The effect of shape anisotropy in giant magnetostrictive fiber Bragg grating sensors

We study the role of shape anisotropy on the strain response of magnetic field sensors based on square cuboids with giant magnetostriction and fiber Bragg gratings. We measured a maximum sensitivity of 18 µε mT −1 when a biasing uniform field of 15 mT was applied to a Tb 0.3 Dy 0.7 Fe 1.92 cuboid with an aspect ratio of 5.0. When gradient fields were applied, we were able to measure a significant change in the magnetostrictive response at different positions, attaching fiber Bragg gratings along the cuboid face containing the main magnetostrictive axis. Depending on the magnitude of the applied gradient, the magnetostrictive response was reduced by up to 34%.