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IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems

Chip scale atomic magnetometer based on SERF

Song Xing, Dong Haifeng, Jiancheng Fang

Published Jan 1, 2009• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We are developing a new detection scheme for magnetometers based on atomic vapor confined in millimeter-scale micromachined enclosures and atomic Zeeman transitions. By adding three micro-reflective mirrors and modifying the light path arrangement, the new detection scheme effectively hurdles the main obstacle which prevents SERF from being applied in chip scale sensors, i.e. the difficulty to implement the transverse laser fields using MEMS fabrication methods. Instead of guiding the pumping laser beam parallel to the wafer plates that is not compatible with MEMS fabrication, such scheme rotates both pumping and probing laser beams, and maintains the orthogonal relationship between them. Finally, several fabrication process suited for this scheme are discussed.

DOI
10.1109/nems.2009.5068566

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We are developing a new detection scheme for magnetometers based on atomic vapor confined in millimeter-scale micromachined enclosures and atomic Zeeman transitions. By adding three micro-reflective mirrors and modifying the light path arrangement, the new detection scheme effectively hurdles the main obstacle which prevents SERF from being applied in chip scale sensors, i.e. the difficulty to implement the transverse laser fields using MEMS fabrication methods. Instead of guiding the pumping laser beam parallel to the wafer plates that is not compatible with MEMS fabrication, such scheme rotates both pumping and probing laser beams, and maintains the orthogonal relationship between them. Finally, several fabrication process suited for this scheme are discussed.
Highly sensitive optical magnetometers present high performance in detection of biological magnetic fields from the heart or the brain and have impact on other areas as diverse as magnetic resonance imaging, space science and remote monitoring. A chip-scale SERF-regime optical magnetometer based on a MEMS process is fabricated instead of a large-chamber one and the optical module and the vapor cell are fabricated based on the MEMS process. Industrialization, low cost and high systematic integration level of magnetic sensors can also be achieved based on the wafer-level packaging. Besides, a 200KHz AC electronic current was applied to the heaters for reducing magnetic noises generated by DC currents from heating resistors. The experimental setup based on a SERF-regime magnetometer to test magnetic fields is shown and results indicate that magnetic fields are tested successfully.
Weak gradient magnetic field detection is significant. This paper presents a novel micro-fabricated spin-exchange-relaxation-free (SERF) atomic magnetometer for weak gradient magnetic field detection, and the atomic vapor cell is fabricated by micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Compared to the single-channel magnetometer, the novel magnetometer's signal-to-noise ratio has increased by 3.63 times. The magnetic field gradient noise of the novel magnetometer reaches 45.33 fToHz-1/2ocm-1in the frequency range of 8 to 15 Hz, and the novel magnetometer has a CMRR (common mode rejection ratio) of 6.1. At the same time, the relationship between the magnitude of the magnetic field gradient and the peak of the dispersive signal has been verified, which provides an idea for the detection of weak gradient magnetic field.
High sensitive SERF(spin-exchange-relaxation-free) atomic magnetometers play an important role in many fields including geophysical mapping, space science, nuclear magnetic resonance, health care and perimeter and remote monitoring. This paper presents a novel approach for the system integration of a SERF atomic magnetometer. First of all, Rb vapor cell integrated with micro heater and Helmholtz coils was selected as physic part of the system and the vapor cell was characterized by pressure broadening effect to analyze nitrogen buffer gas pressure in the vapor cell. Then optical module including laser, micro-lens to collimate light beam emitting from the laser, quarter-wave plate to circularly polarize laser beam was taken as optical pumping and probing source simultaneously, and the interaction of circularly polarized laser beam with rubidium atoms was detected by silicon PIN photo-detectors. At last, Laser module, physics part of the system and silicon PIN photo-detector were integrated on a glass wafer substrate benefiting from the characteristics of non-magnetic material and good flatness, based on the integrated SERF atomic magnetometer, weak magnetic field could be measured. Results demonstrate that the SERF atomic magnetometer is integrated successfully and could be used for the detection of weak magnetic field.
A wafer-level optical package solution for chip-scale atomic magnetometers is presented, which is based on microelectronic fabrication process on a 4 inch wafer. A module is fabricated following the process. By measuring the intensity of the light, it is indicated that the quality of parallelism and polarizability of the laser beam from a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) in the module are acceptable. The frequency of the VCSEL is locked to D1 line of Rubidium through proper adjustment of temperature and driving current. The module is employed in an atomic magnetometer which operates in Mz configuration for the detection the strength of magnetic fields. Results show the feasibility of the package in a magnetometer system.
In recent year, the sensitivities of atomic spin devices are improved greatly with the realization of spin exchange relaxation free (SERF) regime. Usually the SERF regime is realized using orthogonal beams scheme, i.e. one pump beam to polarize the atoms and the other orthogonal probe beam to measure the polarization. Due to the requirement of four optical windows for the atomic vapor cell, the orthogonal beams scheme has difficulties for micro fabrication. In this paper, we research a new scheme for SERF realization using only one beam, which facilitates the micro fabrication greatly. Furthermore, the fabrication processes of the MEMS atomic vapor cell with two out-of-plane optical windows are designed and performed. In the end, the possibility of increasing the relaxation time by nanotechnology is discussed.
This paper introduces measurement of weak magnetic field using a novel design of chip-scale Spin Exchange Relaxation Free (SERF) atomic magnetometer based on a microfabricated Rubidium (Rb) vapor cell. The sensor, which integrates a micro-fabricated Rb vapor cell, a heater and related components, is fabricated by stacking printed circuit boards (PCB) and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) process technology. During the experiments, the noise of the measurement using the atomic magnetometer was obtained. In addition, a test of the simulated magnetic field was performed in a shielding cylinder, and the signal of the simulated magnetic field about 100 pT at 1.2 Hz was measured. The signal is processed by the software using a notch filter to suppress the Direct Current (DC) noise and 50Hz noise. This paper provides a novel micro-fabricated device for detecting weak magnetic field.