Open AccessStudy on the sensitivity of laser-pumped cesium atomic magnetometer
Author(s) -
Nan Li,
Kaikai Huang,
Xuequan Lu
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.62.133201
Subject(s) - magnetometer , larmor precession , magnetic field , laser , physics , sensitivity (control systems) , photon , optics , atomic physics , magnetization , diode , optical pumping , nuclear magnetic resonance , optoelectronics , materials science , quantum mechanics , electronic engineering , engineering
A cesium atomic magnetometer based on laser-pumped rf resonance has been investigated and demonstrated experimentally. Atoms are polarized and pumped to dark states by circularly polarized light. When there exists a magnetic field, the corresponding magnetization will be precessing around the magnetic field at Larmor frequency. By means of adding a resonant rf magnetic field, the atoms will be depolarized and absorb photons again. By detecting the spectrum of the transmitted light, one can obtain the information about the external magnetic field. We build an 894nm external cavity diode laser with a frequency stabilization device, and a low noise magnetic field measurement environment. After the optimization of the magnetometer parameter and closed-loop measurement, an ultimate sensitivity of 19 fT/Hz1/2 and an intrinsic sensitivity of 1.8 pT/Hz1/2 have been achieved with the spatial resolution smaller than 2 cm.