Electromagnetic induction imaging with atomic magnetometers: unlocking the low-conductivity regime

Abstract

Electromagnetic induction imaging with atomic magnetometers has disclosed unprecedented domains for imaging, from security screening to material characterization. However, applications to low-conductivity specimens -- most notably for biomedical imaging -- require sensitivity, stability, and tunability only speculated thus far. Here, we demonstrate contactless and non-invasive imaging down to 50 S/m using a 50 fT/Hz${}^{-1/2}$ ${}^{87}$Rb radio-frequency atomic magnetometer operating in an unshielded environment and near room temperature. Two-dimensional images of test objects are obtained with a near-resonant imaging approach, which reduces the phase noise by a factor 172, with projected sensitivity of 1 S/m. Our results, an improvement of more than three orders of magnitude on previous imaging demonstrations, push electromagnetic imaging with atomic magnetometers to regions of interest for semiconductors, insulators, and biological tissues.

arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures. Improved results. New manuscript layout. Published version available, see https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116811

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Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Sub-Sm${}^{-1}$ electromagnetic induction imaging with an unshielded atomic magnetometer
• Harmonic fine tuning and triaxial spatial anisotropy of dressed atomic spins
• Spin dynamic response to a time dependent field
• Performance of a radio-frequency two-photon atomic magnetometer in different magnetic induction measurement geometries
• Electromagnetic Induction Imaging: Signal Detection Based on Tuned-Dressed Optical Magnetometry
• Studying and applying magnetic dressing with a Bell and Bloom magnetometer