The continously growing demand for metallic and especially strategic raw materials by industrial nations and emerging economies, new developments in electronics and industrial technology, the digitalization of society and the ecological conversion of the energy industry represent an unsolved task for the human society as a whole in the 21st century, which urgently requires innovative geophysical exploration methods and new sensor technology. A demonstrator for semi-airborne audio frequency magnetotellurics based on quantum sensors will be explored, which offers the potential of exploration of deep blind deposits below 1km.

The institute will explore new scalar and omni-directional optically pumped magnetometers (OPM) and readout concepts, innovative software tools and inversion techniques. The OPMs will be used in parallel with a superconducting vector magnetometer to enable its calibration and to simultaneously measure the total field intensity. In combination with new readout electronics and an advanced airborne platform facilitating vibration and motion noise reduction, a unique and competitive demonstrator will be developed and evaluated.

This Project is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag – project number KK5031301."

Project partners:

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi)
Dias Geophysical, Cambridge/ Kanada
Supracon AG / Jena