A three-step model for optimizing coil spacings inside cuboid-shaped magnetic shields

A three-step model for calculating the magnetic field generated by coils inside cuboid-shaped shields like magnetically shielded rooms (MSRs) is presented. The shield is modeled as two parallel plates of infinite width and one tube of infinite height. We propose an improved mirror method that considers the effect of the parallel plates of finite thickness. A reaction factor is introduced to describe the influence of the vertical tube, which is obtained from finite element method (FEM) simulations. By applying the improved mirror method and then multiplying the result with the reaction factor, the magnetic flux density within the shielded volume can be determined in a fast computation. The three-step model is verified with both FEM and measurements of the field of a Helmholtz coil inside an MSR with a superconducting quantum interference device. The model allows a fast optimization of shield-coupled coil spacings compared to repetitive, time-consuming FEM calculations. As an example, we optimize the distance between two parallel square coils attached to the MSR walls. Measurements of a coil prototype of 2.75 m side length show a magnetic field change of 18 pT over the central 5 cm at the field strength of 2.7 μT. This obtained relative field change of 6 ppm is a factor of 5.4 smaller than our previously used Helmholtz coil.