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Atoms

Spatially Resolved Precision Measurement of Magnetic Field Using Ultracold Cesium Atoms as Sensors

Anjali Bisht, Manoj Das, Poonam Arora

Published Mar 27, 2025• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Sub-Doppler laser-cooled cesium-133 atoms are utilized as quantum sensors to achieve precise mapping of magnetic fields across a region in ultra-high vacuum (UHV), with a spatial resolution of 1 cm and a sensitivity of approximately 550 pT/√Hz, enabling accurate measurements within the nanotesla [nT] range. The cold cesium-133 atoms used for magnetic field measurements in this paper are a key component of the cesium fountain frequency standard at CSIR-NPL, which contributes to both timekeeping and magnetic sensing. The results show magnetic field fluctuations within 1 nT with a spatial resolution of 1 cm. The uncertainty in these measurements is of the order of 1.24 × 10−16, ensuring reliable and precise spatially resolved magnetic field mapping.

DOI
10.3390/atoms13040026

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•Oct 28, 2025•0 citations
Sub-Doppler laser-cooled cesium-133 atoms are utilized as quantum sensors to achieve precise mapping of magnetic fields across a region in ultra-high vacuum (UHV), with a spatial resolution of 1 cm and a sensitivity of approximately 550 pT/√Hz, enabling accurate measurements within the nanotesla [nT] range. The cold cesium-133 atoms used for magnetic field measurements in this paper are a key component of the cesium fountain frequency standard at CSIR-NPL, which contributes to both timekeeping and magnetic sensing. The results show magnetic field fluctuations within 1 nT with a spatial resolution of 1 cm. The uncertainty in these measurements is of the order of 1.24 × 10−16, ensuring reliable and precise spatially resolved magnetic field mapping.
Precision sensing, and in particular high precision magnetometry, is a central goal of research into quantum technologies. For magnetometers, often trade-offs exist between sensitivity, spatial resolution, and frequency range. The precision, and thus the sensitivity of magnetometry, scales as 1/sqrt[T_{2}] with the phase coherence time T_{2} of the sensing system playing the role of a key determinant. Adapting a dynamical decoupling scheme that allows for extending T_{2} by orders of magnitude and merging it with a magnetic sensing protocol, we achieve a measurement sensitivity even for high frequency fields close to the standard quantum limit. Using a single atomic ion as a sensor, we experimentally attain a sensitivity of 4.6 pT/sqrt[Hz] for an alternating-current magnetic field near 14 MHz. Based on the principle demonstrated here, this unprecedented sensitivity combined with spatial resolution in the nanometer range and tunability from direct current to the gigahertz range could be used for magnetic imaging in as of yet inaccessible parameter regimes.
We demonstrate the accurate determination of the magnetic strength of a microwave field utilizing the dressed cesium atom as a sensor. A bias magnetic field is initially used to split the Zeeman levels of the ground state. Its value is carefully selected to ensure that the microwave field to be measured is closely resonant to a pair of selected hyperfine Zeeman levels ( | F = 3 , m F = 3 ⟩ and | F = 4 , m F = 4 ⟩ ), while other states are neglected. This approach significantly simplifies the interaction model. A weak radio-frequency magnetic field is utilized to drive atoms away from the specified magnetic quantum number state to its neighbor, whose population imbalance is supervised by optical readout. The long atomic transverse relaxation time due to the antirelaxation coatings of alkali-metal-vapor cells makes it possible to precisely depict the interaction between atoms and the microwave field. Consequently, the microwave field can be accurately determined with an uncertainty of less than 1% even beyond 100 nT, corresponding to a radio-frequency spectral line broadening less than 100 Hz. The features we have identified enable us to expand the possibilities of developing new metrology for measuring microwave fields in an alternative way.
A cesium atomic magnetometer based on laser-pumped rf resonance has been investigated and demonstrated experimentally. Atoms are polarized and pumped to dark states by circularly polarized light. When there exists a magnetic field, the corresponding magnetization will be precessing around the magnetic field at Larmor frequency. By means of adding a resonant rf magnetic field, the atoms will be depolarized and absorb photons again. By detecting the spectrum of the transmitted light, one can obtain the information about the external magnetic field. We build an 894nm external cavity diode laser with a frequency stabilization device, and a low noise magnetic field measurement environment. After the optimization of the magnetometer parameter and closed-loop measurement, an ultimate sensitivity of 19 fT/Hz1/2 and an intrinsic sensitivity of 1.8 pT/Hz1/2 have been achieved with the spatial resolution smaller than 2 cm.
Neutral atom trapping and laser cooling has opened the way to large prospects for the present generation of atomic frequency standards [1].A cold cesium fountain device has been built for the first time at the Observatoire de Paris and is now operating since 1994.Its frequency stability, 4 10 -14  -1/2 where  is the integration time, has been the best one ever measured for a while.This letter shows how accurate can be the measurement of low static magnetic fields within the fountain device and the variations along the longitudinal and transverse axis.Thus the device is no more operating as a clock but constitutes a very precise magnetometer.
This thesis presents advancements in radio-frequency atomic magnetometry utilising cold atoms as sensors. While cold atom magnetometers demonstrate lower absolute sensitivity compared to conventional vapour cell systems due to reduced atom numbers, they offer exceptional spatial resolution at the micrometre scale. The experimental apparatus features a cold atom production system capable of reaching quantum degeneracy through a refined cooling sequence that involves optical molasses, magnetic trapping and evaporation, and optical evaporative cooling in the dipole trap, culminating in a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate. This work details the development and characterisation of magnetometer set-ups with progressively enhanced performance. The first magnetometer utilised atoms in the optical molasses phase as a sensor, achieving an AC sensitivity of 330 pT/√Hz with approximately 108 atoms at 20 μK. Comprehensive magnetometry optimisation methods were developed to enhance sensitivity. Following laboratory interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, system rebuilding incorporated significant upgrades, including a new probe laser and gradient compensation systems. The improved magnetometer prototype achieved a substantially enhanced sensitivity of 0.72±0.33 pT/√Hz, approaching the fundamental sensitivity limit of the system. Using atoms in the magnetic trap as a sensor, a sensitivity of 1.85 pT/√Hz was demonstrated. The system was verified to be photon-shot noise limited. Investigations into a double-pass probe configuration showed that, while the measured sensitivity was similar to that of the single-pass (4.3 pT/√Hz compared to 3.1 pT/√Hz at a probe power of 6.4 μW measured at the detector), the rotation angle increased by a factor of 2.2, with significantly reduced noise levels. These findings suggest that multi-pass strategies hold promise for enhanced performance in future implementations. In addition, the first signal detection from a BEC magnetometer, achieving 4.5 nT/√Hz with only 95,000 atoms at 35 nK was demonstrated.