Magnetostrictive Fe–Ga/Cu Nanowires Array With GMR Sensor for Sensing Applied Pressure

We have demonstrated magnetostrictive nanowire (NW) array-based pressure sensing that utilizes magneto-mechanical transduction in an NW array and electro-magnetic transduction in a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) magnetic field sensor. The pressure sensing is performed by pressing the vertically aligned multilayered Fe80Ga20/Cu NW array against the GMR surface causing NW deflections. Micromagnetic simulations were used to visualize changes in NW magnetization state and resulting stray fields with applied mechanical strain. This magneto-mechanical transduction was similar to that measured experimentally by the GMR sensors with applied pressure.