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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

High precision measurement of light polarization using a Cs atomic magnetometer configuration

Xinxin Peng, Yinmin Zhou, Lianhua Li, Zhengyi Xu, Min Zhou, Xinye Xu

Published Apr 29, 2021• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The polarization of light affected by the birefringence of optical elements, such as vapor cell walls, mirrors, and windows, may introduce systematic errors that can be minimized by precisely measuring and correcting the light polarization with a highly sensitive atomic polarimeter. In high precision measurements, it is necessary to measure the light polarization with a high precision where the light interacts with atoms. However, it is inconvenient or even impossible to use the presented method to measure the light polarization, for example, in a cell or cavity. We present a precise and relatively straightforward method to measure the light polarization based on a cesium (Cs) atomic magnetometer configuration. The pump-probe scheme is involved in our experiment. The pump light polarizes atomic spins and the probe light measures the spins polarization. The optical rotation of the probe light significantly depends on the pump light ellipticity, which can be used to measure the light polarization with a high precision. In our work, we present a method to measure the pump light ellipticity with a sensitivity of 2.1 × 10 −8 rad Hz −1/2 for linearly polarized light, which has approximately an order of magnitude improvement than previous research results.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/abfd03

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Письма в Журнал экспериментальной и теоретической физики•Apr 15, 2023•1 citation
Abstract The polarization of light affected by the birefringence of optical elements, such as vapor cell walls, mirrors, and windows, may introduce systematic errors that can be minimized by precisely measuring and correcting the light polarization with a highly sensitive atomic polarimeter. In high precision measurements, it is necessary to measure the light polarization with a high precision where the light interacts with atoms. However, it is inconvenient or even impossible to use the presented method to measure the light polarization, for example, in a cell or cavity. We present a precise and relatively straightforward method to measure the light polarization based on a cesium (Cs) atomic magnetometer configuration. The pump-probe scheme is involved in our experiment. The pump light polarizes atomic spins and the probe light measures the spins polarization. The optical rotation of the probe light significantly depends on the pump light ellipticity, which can be used to measure the light polarization with a high precision. In our work, we present a method to measure the pump light ellipticity with a sensitivity of 2.1 × 10 −8 rad Hz −1/2 for linearly polarized light, which has approximately an order of magnitude improvement than previous research results.
A precise, accurate, and relatively straightforward in situ method to measure and control the ellipticity of light resonantly interacting with an atomic vapor is described. The technique can be used to minimize vector light shifts. The method involves measurement of ellipticity-induced resonances in the magnetic-field dependence of nonlinear magneto-optical rotation of frequency-modulated light. The light propagation direction is orthogonal to the applied magnetic field B\mathbf{B}B and the major axis of the light polarization ellipse is along B\mathbf{B}B. When the light modulation frequency matches the Larmor frequency, elliptically polarized light produces a precessing atomic spin orientation transverse to B\mathbf{B}B via synchronous optical pumping. The precessing spin orientation causes optical rotation oscillating at the Larmor frequency by modulating the atomic vapor's circular birefringence. Based on this technique's precision, in situ nature (which avoids systematic errors arising from optical interfaces) and independent control of the most important systematic errors, it is shown that the accuracy of light ellipticity measurements achievable with this technique can exceed that of existing methods by orders of magnitude.
Recently, atomic magnetometers have been reported as the most sensitive magnetometers by completely eliminating the spin exchange relaxation. In this paper, we described a design of highly sensitive cesium atomic magnetometer based on circular dichroism, which had the advantage of easily locking the probing laser to the necessary frequency compared with those based on circular birefringence. In order to polarize the cesium atoms uniformly, the pumping laser light was separated into two counter-propagating and counter-circular polarization beams through the atomic vapor cell. We employed a circular analyzer optical configuration to measure the ellipticity of the probing light, which indicated the amplitude of the magnetic field. The external magnetic field was tracked by a digital auto frequency tracking system.
We report the design and performance of a nonmagnetic drift stable optically pumped cesium magnetometer with a measured sensitivity of 35 fT at 200 s integration time and stability below 50 fT between 70 and 600 s. The sensor is based on the nonlinear magneto-optical rotation effect: in a Bell–Bloom configuration, a higher order polarization moment (alignment) of Cs atoms is created with a pump laser beam in an anti-relaxation coated Pyrex cell under vacuum, filled with Cs vapor at room temperature. The polarization plane of light passing through the cell is modulated due the precession of the atoms in an external magnetic field of 2.1 μT, used to optically determine the Larmor precession frequency. Operation is based on a sequence of optical pumping and observation of freely precessing spins at a repetition rate of 8 Hz. This free precession decay readout scheme separates optical pumping and probing and, thus, ensures a systematically highly clean measurement. Due to the residual offset of the sensor of <15 pT together with negligible crosstalk of adjacent sensors, this device is uniquely suitable for a variety of experiments in low-energy particle physics with extreme precision, here as a highly stable and systematically clean reference probe in search for time-reversal symmetry violating electric dipole moments.
Spin-exchange relaxation free alkali-metal magnetometers typically operate in the regime of high optical density, presenting challenges for simple and efficient optical pumping and detection. We describe a high-sensitivity Rb magnetometer using a single elliptically polarized off-resonant laser beam. Circular component of the light creates relatively uniform spin polarization while the linear component is used to measure optical rotation generated by the atoms. Modulation of the atomic spin direction with an oscillating magnetic field shifts the detected signal to high frequencies. Using a fiber-coupled distributed feedback laser, we achieve magnetic field sensitivity of 7 fT/Hz7\text{ }\text{fT}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}7 fT/Hz​ with a miniature $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}5\text{ }\text{mm}\text{ }\text{Rb}$ vapor cell.
Optically pumped alkali metal atoms currently provide a sensitive solution for magnetic microscopic measurements. As the most practicable plan, Faraday rotation of linearly polarized light is extensively used in spin polarization measurements of alkali metal atoms. In some cases, near-resonant Faraday rotation is applied to improve the sensitivity. However, the near-resonant linearly polarized probe light is elliptically polarized after passing through optically pumped alkali metal vapor. The ellipticity of transmitted near-resonant probe light is numerically calculated and experimentally measured. In addition, we also analyze the negative impact of elliptical polarization on Faraday rotation measurements. From our theoretical estimate and experimental results, the elliptical polarization forms an inevitable error in spin polarization measurements.
Nonlinear resonances in alkali metal vapor, which are detected by the magneto-optical rotation of the linear polarization of light, are actively used in quantum magnetometry to fabricate atomic magnetometers. The magneto-optical rotation in most such sensors is due to magnetic birefringence, and rotation angles usually do not exceed tens of milliradians. In this work, an experiment where magneto-optical resonances of linear polarization rotation of a probe wave are due to strong dichroism induced in a medium by a counterpropagating pump wave has been proposed. Both waves are in resonance with the Fg = 2 → Fe = 1 optical transition in the 87Rb D1 line (λ ≈ 795 nm). Experiments have been carried out with a 2-cm-long cylindrical cell filled with a buffer gas, and the maximum rotation angle is ≈390 mrad (22°) at a width of resonance of about 300 nT. The results show that the configuration proposed for the observation of magneto-optical rotation is promising for the fabrication of compact high-sensitivity atomic magnetometers.