Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Applied Physics Letters

A parametrically modulated dual-axis atomic spin gyroscope

Liwei Jiang, Wei Quan, Rujie Li, Wenfeng Fan, Feng Liu, Jie Qin, Shuangai Wan, Jiancheng Fang

Published Jan 29, 2018• 90 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe a dual-axis atomic spin gyroscope based on an alkali metal-noble gas comagnetometer. Alkali metal vapor is optically pumped, and then the noble gas is hyperpolarized along the z axis. When sensing a transverse rotation, the polarized noble gas will be induced to precess and produce an effective magnetic field in the x – y plane for alkali metals to precess under. Operating in the spin-exchange relaxation-free regime, alkali atoms are modulated by the z axis magnetic field and serve as an integrated in-situ dual-axis magnetometer to detect the gyroscopic precession in the x and y axes simultaneously, using a single probe beam. By using the parametric modulation technique, the low frequency drift is effectively suppressed and a bias instability of less than 0.05 deg/h has been achieved in our dual-axis atomic spin gyroscope.

DOI
10.1063/1.5018015

Related papers

A single-beam dual-axis atomic spin comagnetometer for rotation sensing

Liwei Jiang, Jiali Liu, Yixiang Liang +2 more

We describe a dual-axis atomic spin comagnetometer for rotation sensing using a single laser beam. A circularly polarized laser is used to pump the co-located atomic ensembles of alkali metal and noble gas and probe their gyroscopic precession at the same time, which is different from the traditional two-beam orthogonal pump-probe configuration. Combined with magnetic field modulations perpendicular to the laser propagating direction, the comagnetometer could measure dual-axis rotation rates simultaneously. This system is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. A rotation sensitivity of 5.1 × 10–7 rad s−1 Hz−1∕2 and a bias instability of 0.016 °/h have been achieved. The theory and method presented here shed light on the way to miniaturize the comagnetometer with high precision for practical applications.

Applied Physics Letters•Feb 14, 2022•45 citations

Nuclear Spin Gyroscope Based on an Atomic Comagnetometer

Thomas W. Kornack, Rajat K. Ghosh, Michael V. Romalis

We describe a nuclear spin gyroscope based on an alkali-metal--noble-gas comagnetometer. Optically pumped alkali-metal vapor is used to polarize the noble-gas atoms and detect their gyroscopic precession. Spin precession due to magnetic fields as well as their gradients and transients can be cancelled in this arrangement. The sensitivity is enhanced by using a high-density alkali-metal vapor in a spin-exchange relaxation free regime. With a $\mathrm{K}\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ comagnetometer we demonstrate rotation sensitivity of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{rad}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\text{ }{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$, equivalent to a magnetic field sensitivity of $2.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{fT}/{\mathrm{Hz}}^{1/2}$. The rotation signal can be increased by a factor of 10 using $^{21}\mathrm{Ne}$ with a smaller magnetic moment. The comagnetometer is also a promising tool in searches for anomalous spin couplings beyond the standard model.

arXiv:physics/0505089•Physical Review Letters•Nov 29, 2005•566 citations

Dual axis atomic magnetometer and gyroscope enabled by nuclear spin perturbation

Morgan P. Hedges, Ankit Papneja, Karun Paul +1 more

Abstract Alkali-noble-gas comagnetometers have become an essential tool for tests of fundamental physics and offer a compact platform for precision gyroscopy. They are, however, limited by technical noise at low frequencies, commonly due to their limited suppression of magnetic noise. Here we investigate a new method for co-magnetometry between a single noble gas and alkali species. While similar to well-known devices using self-compensation, our scheme introduces magnetic pulses that controllably perturb the noble gas and pulsed optical pumping to polarise the alkali atoms. These applied pulses allow our scheme to measure, rather than just suppress, the effect of magnetic noise thereby offering reduced cross-talk. We show numerically that our scheme retrieves four signals (rotations and magnetic fields on two transverse axes) with similar sensitivity to a single axis device. We also present a proof-of-principle experiment based on a 87 Rb - 129 Xe cell. Our data shows a low magnetic-rotation cross-talk of 0.2 ± 0.1 μ Hz/pT, which is already on par with the most sensitive devices relying on self-compensation.

arXiv:2411.05319•New Journal of Physics•Mar 28, 2025•7 citations

Spin Gyroscope is Ready to Look for New Physics

Derek F. Jackson Kimball

We describe a 3 He- 129 Xe comagnetometer using 87 Rb atoms for noble-gas spin polarization and detection.We use a train of 87 Rb π pulses and σ þ =σ -optical pumping to realize a finite-field Rb magnetometer with suppression of spin-exchange relaxation.We suppress frequency shifts from polarized Rb by measuring the 3 He and 129 Xe spin precession frequencies in the dark, while applying π pulses along two directions to depolarize Rb atoms.The plane of the π pulses is rotated to suppress the Bloch-Siegert shifts for the nuclear spins.We measure the ratio of 3 He to 129 Xe spin precession frequencies with sufficient absolute accuracy to resolve Earth's rotation without changing the orientation of the comagnetometer.A frequency resolution of 7 nHz is achieved after integration for 8 h without evidence of significant drift.

Physics•Jan 16, 2018•1 citation

Examination of Spin-Exchange Relaxation in the Alkali Metal-Noble Gas Comagnetometer With a Large Electron Magnetic Field

Liwei Jiang, Lihong Duan, Jiali Liu +3 more

Alkali metal-noble gas comagnetometers operated in the regime of spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) have been widely used in fundamental physics tests and rotation sensing as gyroscope. Spin-exchange relaxation is an important systematic bias of the comagnetometer, which could limit sensitivity significantly. However, the suppression effect of the spin-exchange relaxation has not been examined quantitatively so far. Herein, we systematically investigate the relaxation of the alkali metal atoms and find that the spin-exchange relaxation is not completely eliminated under the normal operating condition of the K-Rb-21Ne comagnetometer. In addition to the optical pumping rate, the spin-exchange relaxation still plays a dominant role in the broadening of electron Zeeman resonances due to the large electron magnetic field. This is the first demonstration that the alkali metal atoms are operated in the near-SERF regime in the alkali metal-noble gas comagnetometer with a large election magnetic field, which will shed light on the way to reduce the relaxation of the alkali metal atoms and enhance the sensitivity of the comagnetometer.

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement•Oct 26, 2020•18 citations

Simultaneous Determination of the Spin Polarizations of Noble-Gas and Alkali-Metal Atoms Based on the Dynamics of the Spin Ensembles

Kai Wei, Tian Zhao, Xiujie Fang +4 more

We demonstrate a method for simultaneously measuring the spin polarizations of noble-gas and alkali-metal atoms. Under a low magnetic field, the polarized alkali-metal and noble-gas spin ensembles exhibit novel dynamics in the self-compensation and resonance regimes, which can be used to measure the polarizations. We perform this method on a $\mathrm{K}$-$\mathrm{Rb}$-${}^{21}$$\mathrm{Ne}$ comagnetometer with various operation temperatures and pump-light intensities. The polarization of alkali-metal electrons from 0.245 to 0.964 and the polarization of noble-gas nuclear spins from 0.01 to 0.065 are measured with relative uncertainties less than $12.4\mathrm{%}$. The measured polarizations are consistent with the theoretical model and are also verified by the traditional polarization-measurement method.

Physical Review Applied•Apr 10, 2020•41 citations
We describe a dual-axis atomic spin gyroscope based on an alkali metal-noble gas comagnetometer. Alkali metal vapor is optically pumped, and then the noble gas is hyperpolarized along the z axis. When sensing a transverse rotation, the polarized noble gas will be induced to precess and produce an effective magnetic field in the x – y plane for alkali metals to precess under. Operating in the spin-exchange relaxation-free regime, alkali atoms are modulated by the z axis magnetic field and serve as an integrated in-situ dual-axis magnetometer to detect the gyroscopic precession in the x and y axes simultaneously, using a single probe beam. By using the parametric modulation technique, the low frequency drift is effectively suppressed and a bias instability of less than 0.05 deg/h has been achieved in our dual-axis atomic spin gyroscope.
We describe a dual-axis atomic spin comagnetometer for rotation sensing using a single laser beam. A circularly polarized laser is used to pump the co-located atomic ensembles of alkali metal and noble gas and probe their gyroscopic precession at the same time, which is different from the traditional two-beam orthogonal pump-probe configuration. Combined with magnetic field modulations perpendicular to the laser propagating direction, the comagnetometer could measure dual-axis rotation rates simultaneously. This system is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. A rotation sensitivity of 5.1 × 10–7 rad s−1 Hz−1∕2 and a bias instability of 0.016 °/h have been achieved. The theory and method presented here shed light on the way to miniaturize the comagnetometer with high precision for practical applications.
We describe a nuclear spin gyroscope based on an alkali-metal--noble-gas comagnetometer. Optically pumped alkali-metal vapor is used to polarize the noble-gas atoms and detect their gyroscopic precession. Spin precession due to magnetic fields as well as their gradients and transients can be cancelled in this arrangement. The sensitivity is enhanced by using a high-density alkali-metal vapor in a spin-exchange relaxation free regime. With a $\mathrm{K}\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ comagnetometer we demonstrate rotation sensitivity of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{rad}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\text{ }{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$, equivalent to a magnetic field sensitivity of 2.5  fT/Hz1/22.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{fT}/{\mathrm{Hz}}^{1/2}2.5  fT/Hz1/2. The rotation signal can be increased by a factor of 10 using 21Ne^{21}\mathrm{Ne}21Ne with a smaller magnetic moment. The comagnetometer is also a promising tool in searches for anomalous spin couplings beyond the standard model.
Abstract Alkali-noble-gas comagnetometers have become an essential tool for tests of fundamental physics and offer a compact platform for precision gyroscopy. They are, however, limited by technical noise at low frequencies, commonly due to their limited suppression of magnetic noise. Here we investigate a new method for co-magnetometry between a single noble gas and alkali species. While similar to well-known devices using self-compensation, our scheme introduces magnetic pulses that controllably perturb the noble gas and pulsed optical pumping to polarise the alkali atoms. These applied pulses allow our scheme to measure, rather than just suppress, the effect of magnetic noise thereby offering reduced cross-talk. We show numerically that our scheme retrieves four signals (rotations and magnetic fields on two transverse axes) with similar sensitivity to a single axis device. We also present a proof-of-principle experiment based on a 87 Rb - 129 Xe cell. Our data shows a low magnetic-rotation cross-talk of 0.2 ± 0.1 μ Hz/pT, which is already on par with the most sensitive devices relying on self-compensation.
We describe a 3 He- 129 Xe comagnetometer using 87 Rb atoms for noble-gas spin polarization and detection.We use a train of 87 Rb π pulses and σ þ =σ -optical pumping to realize a finite-field Rb magnetometer with suppression of spin-exchange relaxation.We suppress frequency shifts from polarized Rb by measuring the 3 He and 129 Xe spin precession frequencies in the dark, while applying π pulses along two directions to depolarize Rb atoms.The plane of the π pulses is rotated to suppress the Bloch-Siegert shifts for the nuclear spins.We measure the ratio of 3 He to 129 Xe spin precession frequencies with sufficient absolute accuracy to resolve Earth's rotation without changing the orientation of the comagnetometer.A frequency resolution of 7 nHz is achieved after integration for 8 h without evidence of significant drift.
Alkali metal-noble gas comagnetometers operated in the regime of spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) have been widely used in fundamental physics tests and rotation sensing as gyroscope. Spin-exchange relaxation is an important systematic bias of the comagnetometer, which could limit sensitivity significantly. However, the suppression effect of the spin-exchange relaxation has not been examined quantitatively so far. Herein, we systematically investigate the relaxation of the alkali metal atoms and find that the spin-exchange relaxation is not completely eliminated under the normal operating condition of the K-Rb-21Ne comagnetometer. In addition to the optical pumping rate, the spin-exchange relaxation still plays a dominant role in the broadening of electron Zeeman resonances due to the large electron magnetic field. This is the first demonstration that the alkali metal atoms are operated in the near-SERF regime in the alkali metal-noble gas comagnetometer with a large election magnetic field, which will shed light on the way to reduce the relaxation of the alkali metal atoms and enhance the sensitivity of the comagnetometer.
We demonstrate a method for simultaneously measuring the spin polarizations of noble-gas and alkali-metal atoms. Under a low magnetic field, the polarized alkali-metal and noble-gas spin ensembles exhibit novel dynamics in the self-compensation and resonance regimes, which can be used to measure the polarizations. We perform this method on a K\mathrm{K}K-Rb\mathrm{Rb}Rb-21{}^{21}21Ne\mathrm{Ne}Ne comagnetometer with various operation temperatures and pump-light intensities. The polarization of alkali-metal electrons from 0.245 to 0.964 and the polarization of noble-gas nuclear spins from 0.01 to 0.065 are measured with relative uncertainties less than $12.4\mathrm{%}$. The measured polarizations are consistent with the theoretical model and are also verified by the traditional polarization-measurement method.