A Low-Noise High-Density Alkali Metal Scalar Magnetometer

Abstract

We present an experimental and theoretical study of a scalar atomic magnetometer using an oscillating field-driven Zeeman resonance in a high-density optically-pumped potassium vapor. We describe an experimental implementation of an atomic gradiometer with a noise level below 10 fT/Hz^{1/2}, fractional field sensitivity below 10^{-9}/Hz^{1/2}, and an active measurement volume of about 1.5 cm^3. We show that the fundamental field sensitivity of a scalar magnetometer is determined by the rate of alkali-metal spin-exchange collisions even though the resonance linewidth can be made much smaller than the spin-exchange rate by pumping most atoms into a stretched spin state.

10 pages, 7 figures. Version 2 is longer, with more complete description of theoretical analysis and comparison between analytical and experimental results

Cited by in corpus (25)

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• Herriott-Cavity-Assisted Closed-Loop Xe Isotope Comagnetometer
• Quantum-enhanced magnetometry at optimal number density
• Subpicotesla Scalar Atomic Magnetometer with a Microfabricated Cell
• Vector Measurements Using All Optical Scalar Atomic Magnetometers
• Remote detection of rotating machinery with a portable atomic magnetometer
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• A single atom noise probe operating beyond the Heisenberg limit
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• Optical protection of alkali-metal atoms from spin relaxation
• Cross-correlation spin noise spectroscopy of heterogeneous interacting spin systems