MAKING PALEOMAGNETISM A BUSINESS: TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF A COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUMENTATION SUITE FOR PALEOMAGNETISM ANALYSIS APPLICATIONS - HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND BEYOND

In this talk we would like introduce the process of how we created a company that develops and produces novel instruments for paleomagnetism research. Geophysics might not be the typical field where you imagine a start-up company to evolve: measurement and analysis devices are complex machines and at the first look the market for them seems limited.

With our company Mag-Instruments we would like to go further than just offering measurement instrumentation in a classical sense: Our devices are to be interconnected machines that have access to cloud storage and processing to offer value beyond their core functionality. Based on this capability our machines are to become the go-to solutions for pure paleomagnetism research but also inspire scientists in other fields such as industrial material research.

Specifically we would like to introduce three novel instruments that we have developed with Mag-Instruments.

VFTB is a sensitive and versatile instrument for measurement of magnetic properties of materials. Due to its high sensitivity, it is an ideal instrument for research in Rock Magnetism and Environmental Magnetism and can measure weakly magnetic materials, such as sandstone, limestone, soil etc. It can also be used for magnetic analysis in the field of material science e.g. analysis of synthetic materials, thermal behavior of permanent magnets etc.

It is the only instrument on the market that can simultaneously measure the reversible and irreversible components of magnetization and their temperature dependence. This makes it an instrument that is particularly suited for discrimination of different magnetic phases in the sample.

The Portable Spinning Magnetometer (PSM) is the world’s most compact and affordable device for measurement of remanent magnetization of standard, homogeneous one-inch core samples. It is also the only device on the market which has ability to indicate the level of the sample's homogeneity. PSM has a rugged and lightweight design which together with the shipped tripod and battery lasting for 2-5 days makes it a perfect device, not only for a tabletop, but also for a field work.

Last but not least we would like to introduce our latest creation, the Triaxe. This device is at the time of this writing still under development. It will be ready for “prime time” when this conference takes place.