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Physics

Spin Gyroscope is Ready to Look for New Physics

Derek F. Jackson Kimball

Published Jan 16, 2018• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physics.11.5

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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.
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^{+}/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.
We demonstrate a transversely polarized spin-exchange pumped noble gas comagnetometer which suppresses systematic errors from longitudinal polarization. Rb atoms as well as 131Xe^{131}\mathrm{Xe}131Xe and 129Xe^{129}\mathrm{Xe}129Xe nuclei are simultaneously polarized perpendicular to a pulsed bias field. Both Xe isotopes' nuclear magnetic resonance conditions are simultaneously satisfied by frequency modulation of the pulse repetition rate. The Rb atoms detect the Xe precession. We highlight the importance of magnetometer phase shifts when performing comagnetometry. For detection of nonmagnetic spin-dependent interactions the sensing bandwidth is 1 Hz, the white-noise level is $7\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{Hz}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$, and the bias instability is $\ensuremath{\sim}1$ $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{Hz}$.
employed a Ramsey scheme with Rb used for intial spin polarization and for detection of only the initial and final phases of the two noble gas species that precess “in-the-dark.” Our current scheme attempts a continuous detection of the noble gas nuclei, which we’ve shown to increase shot-to-shot SNR over the pulsed scheme. Our technique mitigates the large difference of Fermi-contact shifts on the precession frequencies of the noble gases due to polarized Rb by making the average Rb polarization zero with respect to the noble gases. This averaging is accomplished by applying Rb pulses and simultaneously pumping with += light with a fast repetition rate. The 3 He- 129 Xe co-magnetometer has many potential applications for precision measurements, including nuclear spin gyroscopes and searches for spingravity coupling.
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 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.
A 3^{3}3He-21^{21}21Ne Ramsey Comagnetometer with sub-nHz frequency resolution
Nuclear spin comagnetometers offer exceptional precision in measurements of spin energy levels and exhibit long-term stability, making them powerful tools for probing spin-dependent physics beyond the standard model as well as for inertial rotation sensing. We describe a new ^{3}He-^{21}Ne Ramsey comagnetometer operating with an in situ ^{87}Rb magnetometer for initialization and sensing of nuclear spins. During free precession of nuclear spins we turn off all lasers and introduce a microwave field to suppress back action from Rb atoms. We demonstrate that scalar and dipolar interactions between nuclear spins can be eliminated via control of the polarized sample geometry. These improvements result in a bias-free measurement with a frequency sensitivity of 0.6 nHz after six hours of integration.