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Photonics Letters of Poland

Optical atomic magnetometry

Wojciech Gawlik, Szymon Pustelny

Published Mar 28, 2009• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

This work presents new methods of optical magnetometry developed in the Center for Magneto-Optical Research at the Jagiellonian University. Using rubidium atoms contained in cm-long glass cells and amplitude-modulated laser we have recorded magneto-optical signals of extremely small widths. These signals allow measurements of magnetic fields with a sensitivity comparable to that achieved with magnetometers based on Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). Full Text: PDF References: M. Faraday,Experimental Researches in Electricity. Nineteenth Series, Trans. R. Soc. London 136, 1 (1846). [CrossRef] K. Barczak and S. Pustelny,Magnetooptic properties of special optical type D fibers, J. Phys. IV 137, 15 (2006). [CrossRef] W. Gawlik, J. Kowalski, R. Neumann, and F. Trager, Observation of the electric hexadecapole moment of free Na atoms in a forward scattering experiment, Opt. Commun. 12, 400 (1974). [CrossRef] W. Gawlik, S. Pustelny, in New Trends in Quantum Coherence and Optics, R. Drampyan Ed., 47 (New York, Nova Publishers, 2009). D. W. Gawlik, D. F. Kimball, S. M. Rochester, A. Weis, and V. V. Yashchuk,Resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects in atoms, Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 1153 (2002). [CrossRef] D. V.V. Yashchuk, and M. Zolotorev,Nonlinear Magneto-optic Effects with Ultranarrow Widths, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81(26), 5788 (1998). [CrossRef] D. D. F. Kimball, S. M. Rochester, V. V. Yashchuk, and M. Zolotorev,Sensitive magnetometry based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation, Phys. Rev. A 62, 043403 (2000). [CrossRef] G. Wąsik, W. Gawlik, J. Zachorowski, and W. Zawadzki, Laser frequency stabilization by Doppler-free magnetic dichroism, Appl. Phys. B 75, 613 (2002). [CrossRef] W. Gawlik, L. Krzemien, S. Pustelny, D. Sangla, J. Zachorowski, M. Graf, A. O. Sushkov, and D. Budker, magneto-optical rotation with amplitude modulated light, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88 131108 (2006). [CrossRef] D. D. F. Kimball, V. V. Yashchuk, M. Zolotorev,Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with frequency-modulated light, Phys. Rev. A 65, 055403 (2002). [CrossRef] J. M. Higbie, E. Corsini, and D. Robust, high-speed, all-optical atomic magnetometer, Rev. Sci. Instr. 77, 113106 (2006). [CrossRef] S. Pustelny, A. Wojciechowski, M. Kotyrba, K. Sycz, J. Zachorowski, W. Gawlik, A. Cingoz, N. Leefer, J. M. Higbie, E. Corsini, M. P. Ledbetter, S. M. Rochester, A. O. Sushkov, and D. All-optical atomic magnetometers based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with amplitude modulated light, Proc. of SPIE 6604, 660404 (2007). [CrossRef] S. Pustelny, A. Wojciechowski, M. Gring, M. Kotyrba, J. Zachorowski, W. Gawlik, Magnetometry based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with amplitude-modulated light, J. Appl. Phys. 103, 063108 (2008). [CrossRef] S. Pustelny, S. M. Rochester, D. F. Jackson Kimball, V. V. Yashchuk, D. and W. Gawlik, Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with modulated light in tilted magnetic fields, Phys. Rev. A 74, 063420 (2006). [CrossRef]

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This work presents new methods of optical magnetometry developed in the Center for Magneto-Optical Research at the Jagiellonian University. Using rubidium atoms contained in cm-long glass cells and amplitude-modulated laser we have recorded magneto-optical signals of extremely small widths. These signals allow measurements of magnetic fields with a sensitivity comparable to that achieved with magnetometers based on Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). Full Text: PDF References: M. Faraday,Experimental Researches in Electricity. Nineteenth Series, Trans. R. Soc. London 136, 1 (1846). [CrossRef] K. Barczak and S. Pustelny,Magnetooptic properties of special optical type D fibers, J. Phys. IV 137, 15 (2006). [CrossRef] W. Gawlik, J. Kowalski, R. Neumann, and F. Trager, Observation of the electric hexadecapole moment of free Na atoms in a forward scattering experiment, Opt. Commun. 12, 400 (1974). [CrossRef] W. Gawlik, S. Pustelny, in New Trends in Quantum Coherence and Optics, R. Drampyan Ed., 47 (New York, Nova Publishers, 2009). D. W. Gawlik, D. F. Kimball, S. M. Rochester, A. Weis, and V. V. Yashchuk,Resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects in atoms, Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 1153 (2002). [CrossRef] D. V.V. Yashchuk, and M. Zolotorev,Nonlinear Magneto-optic Effects with Ultranarrow Widths, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81(26), 5788 (1998). [CrossRef] D. D. F. Kimball, S. M. Rochester, V. V. Yashchuk, and M. Zolotorev,Sensitive magnetometry based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation, Phys. Rev. A 62, 043403 (2000). [CrossRef] G. Wąsik, W. Gawlik, J. Zachorowski, and W. Zawadzki, Laser frequency stabilization by Doppler-free magnetic dichroism, Appl. Phys. B 75, 613 (2002). [CrossRef] W. Gawlik, L. Krzemien, S. Pustelny, D. Sangla, J. Zachorowski, M. Graf, A. O. Sushkov, and D. Budker, magneto-optical rotation with amplitude modulated light, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88 131108 (2006). [CrossRef] D. D. F. Kimball, V. V. Yashchuk, M. Zolotorev,Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with frequency-modulated light, Phys. Rev. A 65, 055403 (2002). [CrossRef] J. M. Higbie, E. Corsini, and D. Robust, high-speed, all-optical atomic magnetometer, Rev. Sci. Instr. 77, 113106 (2006). [CrossRef] S. Pustelny, A. Wojciechowski, M. Kotyrba, K. Sycz, J. Zachorowski, W. Gawlik, A. Cingoz, N. Leefer, J. M. Higbie, E. Corsini, M. P. Ledbetter, S. M. Rochester, A. O. Sushkov, and D. All-optical atomic magnetometers based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with amplitude modulated light, Proc. of SPIE 6604, 660404 (2007). [CrossRef] S. Pustelny, A. Wojciechowski, M. Gring, M. Kotyrba, J. Zachorowski, W. Gawlik, Magnetometry based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with amplitude-modulated light, J. Appl. Phys. 103, 063108 (2008). [CrossRef] S. Pustelny, S. M. Rochester, D. F. Jackson Kimball, V. V. Yashchuk, D. and W. Gawlik, Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with modulated light in tilted magnetic fields, Phys. Rev. A 74, 063420 (2006). [CrossRef]
Application of nonlinear magneto-optical (Faraday) rotation to magnetometry is investigated. Our experimental setup consists of a modulation polarimeter that measures rotation of the polarization plane of a laser beam resonant with transitions in Rb. Rb vapor is contained in an evacuated cell with antirelaxation coating that enables atomic ground-state polarization to survive many thousand wall collisions. This leads to ultranarrow features $(\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}6} \mathrm{G})$ in the magnetic-field dependence of optical rotation. The potential sensitivity of this scheme to sub-$\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{G}$ magnetic fields as a function of atomic density, light intensity, and light frequency is investigated near the D1D1D1 and D2D2D2 lines of 85Rb.{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}.85Rb. It is shown that through an appropriate choice of parameters the shot-noise-limited sensitivity to small magnetic fields can reach $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}12} \mathrm{G}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}.$
The quest to expand the limited sensorial domain, in particular to bridge the inability to gauge magnetic fields near and far, has driven the fabrication of remedial tools. The interaction of ferromagnetic material with a magnetic field had been the only available technique to gauge that field for several millennium. The advent of electricity and associated classical phenomena captured in the four Maxwell equations, were a step forward. In the early 1900s, the model of quantum mechanics provided a two-way leap forward. One came from the newly understood interaction of light and matter, and more specifically the three-way coupling of photons, atoms' angular momenta, and magnetic field, which are the foundations of atomic magnetometry. The other came from magnetically sensitive quantum effects in a fabricated energy-ladder form of matter cooled to a temperature below that of the energy steps; these quantum effects gave rise to the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). Research using atomic magnetometers and SQUIDs has resulted in thousands of publications, text books, and conferences. The current status in each field is well described in Refs. [48,49,38,42] and all references therein. In this work we develop and investigate techniques and applications pertaining to atomic magnetometry. [Full text: eric.corsini@gmail.com]
There has been permanent interest in investigations of new magnetic sensors and their various applications (Edelstein, 2007). Last years there is a rapid progress in development of magneto-optical sensors because of their sensitivity and potential for miniaturization. Magnetometers, based on magneto-optical sensors have high sensitivity comparable to, or even surpassing this of the SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) (Kominis et al., 2003; Dang et al., 2010; Savukov, 2010; Knappe, 2010). Microfabrication of components using the techniques of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) developed for atomic clocks (Knappe, 2004) gives the opportunity for building small, low consuming, low cost and non-cryogenic (as SQUIDs) sensors (Griffith et al., 2010). Coherent optical effects can be applied for magnetic field detection and offer perspectives for development of high-precision optical magnetometers (Cox et al., 2011; Kitching et al., 2011). These magnetometers are appropriate for geomagnetic, space, nuclear and biological magnetic field measurements (cardio and brain magnetic field imaging), environmental monitoring, magnetic microscopy, investigations of fundamental physics, etc. Coherent magneto-optical resonances have many applications not only in magnetometry, but in high-resolution spectroscopy, lasing without inversion, laser cooling, ultraslow group velocity propagation of light, etc. (Gao, 2009).
The aim of this book is to present new results in rapidly developing fields of nonlinear optics such as atomic coherence, magneto-optics of atomic media, Doppler-free spectroscopy, time-domain spectroscopy of dense atomic vapors, frequency comb spectroscopy and atom-surface interactions. The discovery of such coherent effects as coherent population trapping (CPT), electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) opened a new avenue for development in many fields of nonlinear optics. Investigations during the last decade have shown many related new results and approaches in nonlinear optics. These include nonlinear magneto-optical processes (NMOP) in the context of high precision magnetometry, quantum information storage and processing, magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic particle detection; the use of ultra-thin (nanometric length) atomic vapor cells in magneto-optical experiments, which show new peculiarities of both coherent effects and NMOP; the use of frequency and amplitude modulated laser beams for NMOP studies in atomic vapors with the aim of extending the range of ultra-precise magnetometers to stronger, particularly geomagnetic fields; application of the counter-propagating beam technique to reveal the Doppler free nonlinear Faraday rotation signals, as a spectroscopic tool and for applications; enhanced nonlinearity due to atomic coherence in multi-state systems; experimental study of EIT in solids; the use of the phase stabilized frequency domain combs of femtosecond laser pulses for velocity selective optical pumping of atomic hyperfine levels, as a direct frequency comb spectroscopy; time-domain nonlinear spectroscopy of dense atomic vapors; atom-surface interactions and laser induced adsorption and desorption of alkali atoms on the surface of solid materials for nanotechnology applications
Several dispersionlike features in the magnetic field dependence of the nonlinear magneto-optic effect were observed in an experiment performed on rubidium atoms contained in a vapor cell with antirelaxation coating. The narrowest feature has effective resonance width $\ensuremath{\gamma}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}g\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\Delta}{B}_{z}\ensuremath{\approx}2\ensuremath{\pi}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1.3\mathrm{Hz}$, where $\ensuremath{\Delta}{B}_{z}\ensuremath{\approx}2.8\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{G}$ is the peak-to-peak separation. The observed nontrivial dependence of the magneto-optic effect on transverse magnetic fields is discussed. The results of this work may be applied to low-field magnetometry, to parity and time reversal invariance violation experiments, etc.
The field of magnetometry has played a pivotal role in developing our understanding of the world around us, by providing a wealth of unique information via non-invasive magnetic measurements. In many applications the characteristics of magnetic fields — their strength and temporal dependence, for example — constitute a unique fingerprint of their source, and provide a window into both their origin and any underlying physical processes that produced them. The invention of the laser, and recent advancements in anti-relaxation coatings for vapour cells, has revolutionised the field of magnetometry and given rise to a myriad of optical magnetometers which demonstrate exquisite sensitivity. This has seen a movement away from traditional cryogenic magnetometry techniques — which utilise superconducting quantum interference devices — and has ushered in a slew of optical techniques which offer a whole host of benefits such as room-temperature operability, intrinsic accuracy, and portability. Applications which were previously inaccessible due to demanding requirements such as high sensitivity at ambient temperatures, are now permissible using these newly developed optical techniques. This thesis details the development of an ultrastable optical magnetometer based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation in rubidium vapour, that has been optimised for high sensitivity over long timescales. Additionally, a novel measurement technique — which relies on tracking the instantaneous phase of atomic spin precession — has been developed and demonstrated, resulting in significant improvements to both the amplitude and frequency response of the device when compared to conventional measurement techniques described in the literature. Significant attention is paid to technical and fundamental noise sources, which must be minimised in order to achieve high performance — especially over long timescales. The latter chapters discuss the development of the magnetometer into a sensitive and reliable system, capable of measuring extremely small magnetic-field fluctuations, and transient fields with arbitrarily complex temporal dependence. The capability of the device to measure minute field fluctuations, as well as rapid transient disturbances, may find use in real-world applications such as geophysical exploration, medical diagnostics and imaging, and magnetic anomaly detection. Furthermore, any fundamental physics applications which demand accurate and precise measurements of magnetic fields may find application of this device — and the novel measurement techniques developed within this thesis—extremely beneficial.