The ATOMS Proton Magnetometer is a nuclear precession magnetometer designed for use in geophysical and archaeological applications. It is an extremely sensitive instrument that measures the Earth’s magnetic field with sub-nanotesla accuracy. This level of sensitivity enables the user to accurately map variations in the magnetic properties of the ground. Such variations are produced by ferrous objects, trenches, gaps, buried archaeological structures, rock discontinuities and other inhomogeneities in the composition of the ground.

It is a portable and easy to use instrument that is operated entirely through an Android application that runs on a tablet, with which the magnetometer connects wirelessly via Bluetooth. Other than an on/off switch, there are no controls on the device itself. The application can present the data either as a time series graph, as a two-dimensional heat map grid, or as a three-dimensional surface. The data are updated in real-time, and the resulting magnetic map is created progressively throughout the recording session and not later, as would happen in the case that the data were recorded with a data logger and then transferred to a conventional PC. The capacity of the internal Lithium-ion battery allows for eight hours of continuous operation, or approximately 9000 measurements.

The lightweight 0.1nT toroidal sensor does not need to be specifically oriented in relation to the Earth’s magnetic poles. This is very useful during measurement, especially when recording grid data, because often it is not possible or practical to continuously keep the sensor oriented in a specific direction. In addition, the toroidal sensor is much more resistant to electromagnetic interference than a traditional cylindrical sensor. This means that the magnetometer is relatively unaffected by nearby power lines and that valid measurements can be taken closer to sources of electromagnetic noise.

The ATOMS Proton Magnetometer is designed to not require any sensor tuning to provide high quality measurements. This way, it can instantly respond to any change of the magnetic field, even tens of thousands of nanotesla from one measurement to the next, without sacrificing any of the measurement properties. Its operating range covers almost every possible magnetic field value on the surface of the Earth.

Depending on the type of the magnetic survey, small deviations in the magnetic field (in the order of a few nanotesla) may be crucial. These deviations can be smaller than the natural short-term variations of the Earth’s magnetic field during the amount of time that the operator needs to complete the grid measurements. To solve this problem, a second device can operate as a reference base station that remains stationary and continuously monitors the background magnetic field during the recording session. Once the session is completed, the application synchronizes the data between the two devices and compensates for any natural variation, removing this source of error from the measurements.

With every purchase we also provide free training on the basic usage of the instrument and the recording and interpretation of magnetic maps. (Currently available to greek speakers only)

The ATOMS Proton Magnetometer is designed and made in Greece.