Atomic spin relaxation in a vapor cell, which can be characterized by the magnetic resonance linewidth (MRL), is an important parameter that eventually determines the sensitivity of an atomic magnetometer. In this paper, we have extensively studied how the pump intensity affects the spin relaxation. The experiment is performed with a cesium vapor cell, and the influence of the pump intensity on MRL is measured at room temperature at zero-field resonance. A simple model with five atomic levels of a Λ-like configuration is discussed theoretically, which can be used to represent the experimental process approximately, and the experimental results can be explained to some extent. Both the experimental and the theoretical results show a nonlinear broadening of the MRL when the pump intensity is increasing. The work helps to understand the mechanism of pump induced atomic spin relaxation in the atomic magnetometers.
Nowadays, quantum sensor research is a very interesting and popular topic. High-sensitivity magnetic field measurements using quantum sensors have evolved into the most sensitive magnetic field sensor category today with the invention of atomic magnetometers operating in the spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) regime. This letter was prepared to investigate the magnetic field sensitivity changes depending on the buffer gas, temperature, and laser intensity using indigenously produced atomic vapor cells. In addition, the aim was to determine the optimum operating conditions of the atomic magnetometer operating in the SERF regime. As a result, the resonance linewidth and signal-to-noise ratio were measured, and the minimum detectable magnetic field was calculated. According to the obtained results, the lowest magnetic field for Cells I–III was measured as 5.12, 4.21, and 4.81 pT, respectively. The lowest magnetic field of all conditions was obtained in vapor cell (Cell-II) at 100 °C with 5 mW laser intensity. As a result, it has been experimentally proven that under the same conditions, increasing the buffer gas pressure in vapor cells can narrow the resonance linewidth, and the magnetic field sensitivity can be improved by increasing the laser intensity applied to the vapor cells.
In this work, we experimentally measure the broadened linewidth of magneto-optical resonance signal due to magnetic-field gradient with an alkali buffer-gas-free anti-relaxation-coated cell. We also study how the temperature of the atomic vapor cell affects the magneto-optical resonance signal linewidth under different magnetic-field gradients. Theoretical calculations show that the relaxation caused by magnetic-field gradient could be suppressed with increased temperature, which could be useful to optimize the working parameters for unshielded atomic magnetometer based on anti-relaxation-coated cells.
A new and unusual phenomenon which we call light narrowing is reported and discussed in this paper. We discovered this effect in dense, spin-polarized cesium vapor optically pumped with a cw blue dye laser beam tuned to the second resonance
D1 line (4593 \AA{}). We observe a significant narrowing of the radio-frequency power-broadened magnetic resonance lines (linewidths narrow by as much as a factor of 2.5) when the intensity of the circularly polarized incident dye laser beam is increased by either focusing the beam or by the removal of attenuating filters from the focused beam. The magnetic resonance linewidths in spin-polarized cesium vapor were measured over a wide range of cesium number densities (5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1012 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ \ensuremath{\le}[Cs]\ensuremath{\le}1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1016 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$). This corresponds to cesium spinexchange rates of 4.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
103 to 9\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
106 ${\mathrm{sec}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. For low cesium number densities (5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1012 [Cs]3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1014 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$) the light-narrowing effect is large (a factor of 2.5) and independent of [Cs]. In the region of 3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1014 to 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1015 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ in number densities, the light-narrowing effect decreases with increasing [Cs]. At high cesium number densities ([Cs]> 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1015 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$) this light-narrowing effect almost completely disappears. In the limit of low-radio-frequency power the magnetic resonance linewidths for focused and unfocused dye laser beam are nearly the same. Experimental observations on this new effect are presented in detail. In the latter part of this paper a self-contained theoretical treatment of the light-narrowing effect is developed. Using Bloch equations in the presence of optical pumping, spin relaxation (diffusion, electron randomization), rapid spin exchange, and radio-frequency magnetic field, expressions for magnetic resonance line shapes are derived. In general, we find good agreement between our experimental results and the theory.
For the experimental implementation of an optically pumped atomic magnetometer, the magnetic resonance signal with a narrow linewidth and a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is required for achieving a high sensitivity. Using 795-nm laser as both the pumping and the probe laser, we compare the magnetic resonance signals from different rubidium atomic vapor cells and investigate the variations of magnetic resonance signals with temperature. Optimized magnetic resonance signal is achieved with a paraffin-coated rubidium atomic vapor cell. Then the 780-nm laser at rubidium D2 line is introduced as a repumping laser, and we explore the changes of linewidth and SNR of the magnetic resonance signal under different power of the pumping laser and the repumping laser. Owing to the 780-nm repumping laser beam, the signal amplitude of rubidium-85 magnetic resonance signal is improved remarkably because more rubidium-85 atoms are spin- polarized by the 795-nm pumping laser beam. At the same time, the linewidth of rubidium-85 magnetic resonance signal is roughly not broadened anymore. We realize a closed-loop optically pumped rubidium-85 atomic magnetometer with a bandwidth of ~1.2 kHz, and the sensitivity is calibrated to be ~245.5 pT/Hz1/2 only with the 795-nm pumping laser beam. Owing to the employment of the 780-nm repumping laser beam, the sensitivity is improved to be ~26.4 pT/Hz1/2 which is improved roughly by one order of magnitude. We also calibrate the measurement accuracy and deviation of a commercial fluxgate magnetometer by using the enhanced rubidium magnetic resonance signal.
Rubidium laser optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are widely used magnetic sensors based on the Zeeman effect, laser pumping, and magnetic resonance principles. They measure the magnetic field by measuring the magnetic resonance signal passing through a rubidium atomic gas cell. The quality of the magnetic resonance signal is a necessary condition for a magnetometer to achieve high sensitivity. In this research, to obtain the best magnetic resonance signal of rubidium laser OPMs in the Earth’s magnetic field intensity, the experiment system of rubidium laser OPMs is built with a rubidium atomic gas cell as the core component. The linewidth and amplitude ratio (LAR) of magnetic resonance signals is utilized as the optimization objective function. The magnetic resonance signals of the magnetometer experiment system are experimentally measured for different laser frequencies, radio frequency (RF) intensities, laser powers, and atomic gas cell temperatures in a background magnetic field of 50,765 nT. The experimental results indicate that optimizing these parameters can reduce the LAR by one order of magnitude. This shows that the optimal parameter combination can effectively improve the sensitivity of the magnetometer. The sensitivity defined using the noise spectral density measured under optimal experimental parameters is 1.5 pT/Hz1/2@1 Hz. This work will provide key technical support for rubidium laser OPMs’ product development.