Ultrasensitive atomic comagnetometer with enhanced nuclear spin coherence

Abstract

Achieving high energy resolution in spin systems is important for fundamental physics research and precision measurements, with alkali-noble-gas comagnetometers being among the best available sensors. We found a new relaxation mechanism in such devices, the gradient of the Fermi-contact-interaction field that dominates the relaxation of hyperpolarized nuclear spins. We report on precise control over spin distribution, demonstrating a tenfold increase of nuclear spin hyperpolarization and transverse coherence time with optimal hybrid optical pumping. Operating in the self-compensation regime, our ${}^{21}$Ne-Rb-K comagnetometer achieves an ultrahigh inertial rotation sensitivity of $3\times 10^{-8}$\,rad/s/Hz${}^{1/2}$ in the frequency range from 0.2 to 1.0 Hz, which is equivalent to the energy resolution of $3.1\times 10^{-23}$\,eV/Hz${}^{1/2}$. We propose to use this comagnetometer to search for exotic spin-dependent interactions involving proton and neutron spins. The projected sensitivity surpasses the previous experimental and astrophysical limits by more than four orders of magnitude.

References in corpus (5)

• New limit on Lorentz and CPT-violating neutron spin interactions
• Spin-Dependent Macroscopic Forces from New Particle Exchange
• New classes of systematic effects in gas spin co-magnetometers
• New Limit on the Permanent Electric Dipole Moment of ${}^{129}$Xe using ${}^3$He Comagnetometry and SQUID Detection
• Constraints on long-range spin-gravity and monopole-dipole couplings of the proton

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Constraining Ultralight Dark Matter through an Accelerated Resonant Search
• Spin-dependent exotic interactions
• Dark Matter Search with a Resonantly-Coupled Hybrid Spin System
• Searches for exotic spin-dependent interactions with spin sensors
• Inter-species spin-noise correlations in hot atomic vapors
• Leading bounds on micro- to picometer fifth forces from neutron star cooling
• Searching for dark matter with a 1000 km baseline interferometer
• Dual axis atomic magnetometer and gyroscope enabled by nuclear spin perturbation
• Axion Window on New Macroscopic Forces