Development of a magnetic quartz crystal microbalance.

A new technique for measurement of magnetic properties of materials is demonstrated. It can be used for the measurement of thin magnetic films during their chemical modification. The resonance frequency of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with conducting polymer (polyaniline) suspension in poly(ethylene glycol) was observed to increase with increasing the externally applied uniform dc magnetic field. Slowly sweeping the magnetic field between 0 and 3.1 T results in a frequency-field response curve. Chemical doping was done by exposing the polyaniline-emeraldine base film to HCl vapor. The change in population of free spins is reflected in increased frequency-field curve magnitude after HCl doping. Two working hypotheses explaining this observation are offered to explain how frequency of QCM with deposited magnetic film shifts with increasing intensity of the magnetic field.