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Differential Atomic Magnetometry Based on a Diverging Laser Beam

Published

Author(s)

Eleanor Hodby, Elizabeth A. Donley, John E. Kitching

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel atomic magnetometer that uses differential detection of the spatially diverging components of a light field to monitor the Larmor precession frequency of atoms in a thermal vapor. The design is implemented in compact form with a micromachined alkali vapor cell and a naturally divergent light field emitted by a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, which serves to both optically pump the atoms and measure the transverse polarization. Operating the magnetometer in differential mode cancels common-mode noise and improves the sensitivity by a factor of 26 over single-channel operation. We also suggest ways in which the current sensitivity of 28\,pT/$\surd$Hz may be improved further without sacrificing size or simplicity.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
91
Issue
011109

Keywords

alkali atoms, atomic magnetometer, chip scale devices, differential detection, diverging beam, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), optical pumping

Citation

Hodby, E. , Donley, E. and Kitching, J. (2007), Differential Atomic Magnetometry Based on a Diverging Laser Beam, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50501 (Accessed October 16, 2024)

Issues

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Created July 3, 2007, Updated February 17, 2017