Abstract
We have fabricated YBCO SQUID 1st order gradiometers on $30^{\circ}$STO bicrystal substrate. The pickup coil size was 3.8mm$\times$3.8mm and baseline was 5mm. Three types of SQUID gradiometer were designed and tested for unshielded operation; solid pickup coil, pickup coil consisting of 4 parallel $ 50\mu\textrm{m}$-wide loops, and solid pickup coil with flux dam. We have investigated external magnetic field dependence of the SQUID gradiometers on the magnetic field noiseproperties. Significant increase of low frequency noise with the application of static field has been observed in the case of parallel and flux dam type pickup coil above threshold field of $1.3 \mu$T. Magnetic field noise at 1 Hz measured in the magnetically shielding room was 30, 165, 480 fTcm／sup -1／Hz／sup -1/2／ for solid type and slot type and parallel loops type, respectively.
