Non-contact measurement of diamagnetic susceptibility change by a magnetic levitation technique

A new method for measuring the temperature dependence of the diamagnetic susceptibility is described. It is based on the Faraday method and employs a magnetic levitation technique. The susceptibility of a magnetically levitating diamagnetic sample is determined from the product of the magnetic flux density and the field gradient at the levitating position observed using a micro CCD camera. The susceptibility of a sample during containerless melting and solidification can be measured to a precision of better than +/-0.05%. The temperature dependence of the susceptibility of paraffin wax was measured by the magnetic levitation technique with an accuracy of +/-0.25%. This method enables sensitive and contactless measurements of the diamagnetic susceptibility across the melting point with in situ observations.