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Physical Review A

Sensitive detection of magnetic fields including their orientation with a magnetometer based on atomic phase coherence

Hwang Lee, Michael Fleischhauer, Marlan O. Scully

Published Sep 1, 1998• 72 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An optical magnetometer based on electromagnetically induced transparency is analyzed. Utilizing the different orientation characteristics for different field polarizations, the magnitude and orientation of an applied magnetic field can be measured. As a model system we consider the sodium ${D}_{1}$ transition taking into account hyperfine structure and optical pumping effects.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.58.2587

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An optical magnetometer based on electromagnetically induced transparency is analyzed. Utilizing the different orientation characteristics for different field polarizations, the magnitude and orientation of an applied magnetic field can be measured. As a model system we consider the sodium D1{D}_{1}D1​ transition taking into account hyperfine structure and optical pumping effects.
We develop a generalized principle of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) vector magnetometry based on high-contrast EIT resonances and the symmetry of atom-light interaction in the linearly polarized bichromatic fields. Operation of such vector magnetometer on the D1{D}_{1}D1​ line of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb has been demonstrated. The proposed compass-magnetometer has an increased immunity to shifts produced by quadratic Zeeman and ac-Stark effects, as well as by atom-buffer gas and atom-atom collisions. In our proof-of-principle experiment the detected angular sensitivity to magnetic field orientation is ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ deg/Hz1/2{}^{1/2}1/2, which is limited by laser intensity fluctuations, light polarization quality, and magnitude of the magnetic field.
Double-resonance optically pumped magnetometry can be used to measure static magnetic fields with high sensitivity by detecting a resonant atomic spin response to a small oscillating field perturbation. Determination of the resonant frequency yields a scalar measurement of static field (B0)({B}_{0})(B0​) magnitude. We present calculations and experimental data showing that the on-resonance polarimeter signal of light transmitted through an atomic vapor in arbitrarily oriented B0{B}_{0}B0​ may be modeled by considering the evolution of alignment terms in atomic polarization. We observe that the amplitude and phase of the magnetometer signal are highly dependent upon B0{B}_{0}B0​ orientation and present precise measurements of the distribution of these parameters over the full $4\ensuremath{\pi}$ solid angle.
Optically pumped magnetometers are important instruments for imaging biological magnetic signals without the need for cryogenic cooling. These magnetometers are presently available in the commercial market and utilize the principles of atomic alignment or orientation, enabling remarkable sensitivity and precision in the measurement of magnetic fields. This research focuses on utilizing a spin-aligned atomic ensemble for magnetometry at zero field. An approach is introduced which involves evaluating how the linear polarization of light rotates as it passes through the atomic vapor to null the magnetic field. Analytical expressions are derived for the resulting spin alignment and photodetection signals. Experimental results are provided, demonstrating good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The sensitivity and bandwidth of the magnetometer are characterized based on the detected polarization rotation signal. Lastly, the practical utility of the magnetometer for medical applications is demonstrated by successfully detecting a synthetic cardiac signal.
According to a proposal, photonic crystals would be used to greatly increase the sensitivities of optical magnetometers that are already regarded as ultrasensitive. The proposal applies, more specifically, to a state-of-the-art type of quantum coherent magnetometer that exploits the electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) method for determining a small change in a magnetic field indirectly via measurement of the shift, induced by that change, in the hyperfine levels of resonant atoms exposed to the field.
An optical magnetometer based on atomic coherence effects is analyzed using a quantum Langevin approach. The large dispersion of a phase-coherent atomic medium (``phaseonium'') at a point of vanishing absorption is used to detect magnetic level shifts via optical phase measurements in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with sensitivities potentially superior to state-of-the-art devices. Effects of Doppler broadening and fluctuations of the driving field are discussed and a comparison to standard optical-pumping magnetometers is made.
We have investigated some possibilities to use effect of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), which is based on quantum interference, for measuring magnetic fields. Multi-frequency laser light is driving atomic transitions (e.g. in a Λ-type excitation scheme), and the atoms are decaying into a super positional dark state, in which the population is trapped, if the frequencies of the applied light fulfills certain conditions. Then the atomic medium becomes transparent for the exciting electromagnetic fields. The observed line width of this "transparency window" is not limited by the natural line width of the involved optical transitions and can be decreased down to a few hundredths of Hertz. As a consequence, this narrow feature can be used as a sensitive probe if the frequencies fulfill the required conditions, which are dependent on the energy positions of the involved atomic levels. These energy positions are influenced by external magnetic fields, thus the observation of EIT can be used to determine external magnetic fields strengths. In our approach a so called Hanle-configuration is used, where only one laser frequency is used to simultaneously excite σ+- and σ--transitions within a single hyperfine transition of the Rb87 Dl-line. In this configuration a resonant Λ-system is formed at zero magnetic field. The detuning from two-photon resonance is caused by a magnetic field scanned in laser propagation direction. Any additional probe magnetic field characteristically changes the width and shape of the EIT transparency window resonance; hence the probe magnetic field can be determined directly from the shape of this resonance.