Q20.61
A Single-walled Carbon Nanotube-based Nanocompass for High Spatial Resolution Magnetometry. Stephanie A Getty¹, Jonathon A Brame², Johnathan E Goodsell², Melissa A Harrison⁴, Gunther Kletetschka³ and David D Allred²; ¹Materials Engineering Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland; ²Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; ³Physics, Catholic University, Washington, District of Columbia; ⁴Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee.

A design for a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) nanocompass will be presented. The operating principle exploits the sensitivity of SWCNT electrical properties to strain. The sensor design resembles an astatic magnetometer with electronic feedback and consists of a free-standing mat of SWCNTs that is mechanically coupled to a magnetically responsive, high aspect-ratio Fe component. During operation, torque on the Fe needle will transduce ambient magnetic field strength into an electronic signal. Preliminary results of precursor SWCNT material will be presented, including magnetic field- and temperature-dependence of electron transport measurements, and implications for nanocompass operation will be discussed. In addition, alternative methods toward fabricating a generalized, conformal strain sensor have been explored, and preliminary results of the strain dependence in SWCNTs will be presented.