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arXiv:1810.08999 · Physical Review A

Voigt-effect-based three-dimensional vector magnetometer

Tadas Pyragius, H. M. Florez, T. Fernholz

Published Aug 21, 2019• 26 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We describe a method to dispersively detect all three vector components of an external magnetic field using alkali-metal atoms based on the Voigt effect. Our method relies on measuring the linear birefringence of the radio-frequency dressed atomic medium via polarization homodyning. This gives rise to modulated polarization signals at the first and second harmonic of the dressing frequency. The vector components of the external magnetic field are mapped onto the quadratures of these harmonics. We find that our scheme can be utilized in both cold and hot atomic gases to detect such external fields in shielded and unshielded environments. In the shielded hot vapor case we achieve field sensitivities in the $\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ range for all three vector components, using pump-probe cycles with 125-Hz repetition rate, and limited by the short coherence time of the cell. Finally, our scheme has a simple single axis beam geometry, making it advantageous for miniature magnetic-field sensors.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.100.023416

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We describe a method to dispersively detect all three vector components of an external magnetic field using alkali-metal atoms based on the Voigt effect. Our method relies on measuring the linear birefringence of the radio-frequency dressed atomic medium via polarization homodyning. This gives rise to modulated polarization signals at the first and second harmonic of the dressing frequency. The vector components of the external magnetic field are mapped onto the quadratures of these harmonics. We find that our scheme can be utilized in both cold and hot atomic gases to detect such external fields in shielded and unshielded environments. In the shielded hot vapor case we achieve field sensitivities in the pT/Hz\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}pT/Hz​ range for all three vector components, using pump-probe cycles with 125-Hz repetition rate, and limited by the short coherence time of the cell. Finally, our scheme has a simple single axis beam geometry, making it advantageous for miniature magnetic-field sensors.
We describe a method to dispersively detect all three vector components of an external magnetic field using alkali atoms based on the Voigt effect. Our method relies on measuring the linear birefringence of the radio frequency dressed atomic medium via polarization homodyning. This gives rise to modulated polarization signals at the first and second harmonic of the dressing frequency. The vector components of the external magnetic field are mapped onto the quadratures of these harmonics. We find that our scheme can be utilised in both cold and hot atomic gases to detect such external fields in shielded and unshielded environments. In the shielded hot vapour case we achieve field sensitivities well below 1~pT/√ Hz range for all 3 vector components, using pump-probe cycles with 125 Hz repetition rate, and limited by the short coherence time of the cell. Finally, our scheme has a simple single axis beam geometry making it advantageous for miniature magnetic field sensors.
Magnetism plays a fundamental role in nature existing in almost every conceivable domain of the physical world ranging from stars and planets to our brains and hearts. Some magnetic phenomena are easy to observe and measure, whilst others are small and subtle making them almost impossible to detect. Developments in precision magnetometry, utilising the quantum nature of atoms has given access to the world of small and subtle enabling the understanding of such signals as well as pushing the boundaries of knowledge of the fundamental forces of nature. In this thesis we describe theoretical and experimental methods to dispersively detect all three vector components of an external magnetic field using radio-frequency dressed alkali atoms based on the Voigt effect. To achieve this, we measure the linear birefringence of the radio frequency dressed atomic medium via polarization homodyning. This gives rise to modulated polarization signals at the first and second harmonic of the dressing frequency. The vector components of the external magnetic field are mapped onto the quadratures of these harmonics. Our scheme requires only one frequency of modulation and has a simple single axis beam geometry making it advantageous for miniature magnetic field sensors. Furthermore, we extend our Voigt effect scheme to dressed microwave spectroscopy and show that it can be used to infer the prepared state populations paving the way towards partial quantum state tomography.
Abstract In this paper, we demonstrate a three-axis atomic magnetometer based on parametric oscillations, which can measure the three magnetic field components simultaneously and independently. A circularly polarized pump beam is applied to create the spin polarization, and another linearly polarized probe beam is used to detect the dynamics of the polarized spin under a magnetic field. With a closed-loop system to keep the magnetic field in resonance with the atoms, three components of magnetic field are measured by their feedback signals. We achieve a magnetometer sensitivity of 6 pT ( ) −1 , 25 pT ( ) −1 , and 60 pT ( ) −1 along three axes in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 kHz with a bandwidth better than 1 kHz under an unshielded environment. Furthermore, this magnetometer is free of optical modulation, which reduces the complexity of experimental setups. The methods we present here provide a prototype all-electrical three-axis atomic magnetometer.
A miniature wide-range three-axis vector atomic magnetometer under spin-exchange relaxation-free regime has been developed. With a cylindrical vapor cell of size 10 mm in diameter and length, we have constructed a single-beam configuration through a polarization-maintaining fiber carrying the laser beam to the sensor and a multimode fiber guiding the transmitted light field to the photodiode. A rotating field on the plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the laser and another modulation field in the pump direction, which are generated in the field programmable gate array using direct digital synthesis to measure the three components of the magnetic field simultaneously. The spin-exchange relaxation is suppressed in zero field controlled by a feedback system, thus a wide range and excellent accuracy of three-axis vector atomic magnetometer response is obtained. Consequently, the transverse magnetic field sensitivity of 350 fT/Hz1/2and longitudinal field sensitivity of 3pT/Hz1/2are achieved with a dynamic range of 60000 nT. This sensor with compact size, wide range and high sensitivity is particularly suitable for geomagnetic observatory and space exploration.
Three-axis atomic magnetometers have great advantages for interpreting information conveyed by magnetic fields. Here, we demonstrate a compact construction of a three-axis vector atomic magnetometer. The magnetometer is operated with a single laser beam and with a specially designed triangular 87Rb vapor cell (side length is 5 mm). The ability of three-axis measurement is realized by reflecting the light beam in the cell chamber under high pressure, so that the atoms before and after reflection are polarized along two different directions. It achieves a sensitivity of 40 fT/Hz in x-axis, 20 fT/Hz in y-axis, and 30 fT/Hz in z-axis under spin-exchange relaxation-free regime. The crosstalk effect between different axes is proven to be little in this configuration. The sensor configuration here is expected to form further values, especially for vector biomagnetism measurement, clinical diagnosis, and field source reconstruction.
We demonstrate an ultra-high sensitivity rf optical magnetometer based on a compact 5×5×8 mm3 Rubidium-87 vapor cell in a mu-metal shielded environment. The rf field is detected via a Faraday rotation effect on the linear polarization of a probe beam, and the resonance frequency is tuned via Zeeman effect by applying a static bias magnetic field to the cell. Sensitivities down to 3 fT/√Hz are achieved between 10 kHz and 100 kHz, which is a performance comparable to that of prior larger cells. An increase in the sensitivity with frequency and temperature has been observed.