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Microsystems & Nanoengineering

Alleviating optical pumping inhomogeneity using a polarization-encoded metasurface in NMR co-magnetometers

Yan Lu Xu, Zhen Chai, Mingke Jin, Rui Wang, Siyu Dai, Jing Qin, Jianli Li

Published Nov 24, 2025• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) co-magnetometers, the non-uniform transverse energy distribution of the pumping Gaussian beam can result in substantial optical pumping inhomogeneity and decoherence of atomic spins, which hinder the improvement of the precision and sensitivity of the sensor. One of the most significant recent technological advances for laser beam homogenization is the utilization of the microlens array system. However, the homogenized characteristics of the microlens array system vary with the propagation distance of the pumping light and are not suitable for chip integration, which will affect the sensitivity and compactness of the NMR system. To solve this issue, a metasurface homogenizer is demonstrated for encoding intensity information into the polarization profile of an incident Gaussian beam by combining the geometric phase and Malus' law with the transverse intensity distribution independent of the propagation distance. Compared to Gaussian beam pumping at identical input power, the metasurface homogenizer enhances the measured optical magnetic sensitivity by 23%. The proposed metasurface homogenizer not only realizes the higher precision and sensitivity in NMR co-magnetometers, but also highlights how metasurface-based technologies can contribute to the integrated quantum sensing regime.

DOI
10.1038/s41378-025-00989-1

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In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) co-magnetometers, the non-uniform transverse energy distribution of the pumping Gaussian beam can result in substantial optical pumping inhomogeneity and decoherence of atomic spins, which hinder the improvement of the precision and sensitivity of the sensor. One of the most significant recent technological advances for laser beam homogenization is the utilization of the microlens array system. However, the homogenized characteristics of the microlens array system vary with the propagation distance of the pumping light and are not suitable for chip integration, which will affect the sensitivity and compactness of the NMR system. To solve this issue, a metasurface homogenizer is demonstrated for encoding intensity information into the polarization profile of an incident Gaussian beam by combining the geometric phase and Malus' law with the transverse intensity distribution independent of the propagation distance. Compared to Gaussian beam pumping at identical input power, the metasurface homogenizer enhances the measured optical magnetic sensitivity by 23%. The proposed metasurface homogenizer not only realizes the higher precision and sensitivity in NMR co-magnetometers, but also highlights how metasurface-based technologies can contribute to the integrated quantum sensing regime.
Emerging atomic magnetometers (AMs) are among the most advanced sensors for detecting and characterizing magnetic fields. Recently, there has been growing interest in the miniaturization and integration of AMs due to the urgent demand for portability and compactness in various fields such as biomagnetism imaging. While conventional AMs require a bulky setup of optical devices for the pumping and optical readout of atomic spin, here, a novel chip-scale single-beam AM scheme is proposed by leveraging extreme transmissive circular polarization dichroism (TCPD) and geometric phase manipulation of spin-selective interference meta-optics. This is achieved through silicon-based metasurfaces that enable the realization of arbitrary-to-circular polarization conversion and wavefront modulation within a monolithic chip at Rb D1 transition wavelength (λ = 795 nm). Two spin-selective interference metasurfaces, i.e., meta-circular-polarizer (MCP) and meta-circular-polarizer-lens (MCPL), are fabricated and characterized, with a measured TCPD of 0.68 for the MCP as well as focusing efficiency and TCPD of around 70.67% and 0.69 for the MCPL, respectively. As a proof of concept, a 4 × 4 × 4 mm 3 Rb vapor cell is combined with our metasurface to construct a miniaturized single-beam AM. The sensitivity of our compact metasurface-based system is about 15 fT/Hz 1/2, with a dynamic range near zero-field of ± 2.2 nT. We envision that this work could facilitate the development of burgeoning chip-scale quantum sensors, which hold great potential for high-spatial-resolution biomagnetic imaging, on-chip nuclear magnetic resonance, and so forth.
Abstract Atomic spin comagnetometers based on the spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) effect offer significant potential for inertial sensing and support the development of long-endurance, high-precision navigation technologies. However, limited nuclear spin polarization constrains the long-term stability of these systems. Here, a flat-top optical pumping configuration is introduced for SERF comagnetometers, expanding the uniform-intensity region of the beam to approximately 62 % , which enhances atomic polarization by around 19 % and improves magnetic noise suppression by 32 % . Experimental results demonstrate notable improvements in both sensitivity and long-term stability, highlighting the effectiveness of flat-top beams in overcoming atomic polarization uniformity limitations and advancing SERF co-magnetometer performance.
Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) have undergone rapid development in recent years. The optical probing system, which plays a crucial role in interrogating quantum state of atoms under external perturbations, is an essential component in OPMs. However, conventional optical probing schemes rely on bulky optical components and tedious adjustment procedures, which hinder their applications in portable or compact scenarios. In this study, a method has been proposed in order to overcome these limitations by a metasurface, which is based on localized - interference effects. With the metasurface, we can simultaneously convert any incident polarized light into linearly polarized light and manipulate its wavefront. It achieves a maximum transmission efficiency of 91.7 % and a focusing efficiency of 91.3 %. Since the fabrication process of our metasurface is compatible with current complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technology, it can be integrated with a vapor cell, which is the core sensing element for many advanced atomic devices. Our study proposes an optical probing scheme suitable for chip-scale OPMs, and laying the foundation for the mass production of other chip-scale atomic devices.
A significant drive has emerged to miniaturize and integrate atomic magnetometers for various ultra-high precision quantum sensing applications, extending from laboratory research to industrial use. We introduce a novel configuration of a single-beam atomic magnetometer based on space division multiplexing (SDM), offering a promising approach to this field of research. This design utilizes a custom-designed metasurface to manipulate two generated modes, enabling the implementation of a pump-probe configuration within a single-beam atomic magnetometer. This approach achieves higher spatial resolution and reduces the system's volume. The metasurface centrally generates circularly polarized light carrying spin angular momentum, while linearly polarized light is emitted from the outer areas. This design not only enhances the miniaturization of chip-scale atomic magnetometers but also opens new avenues for exploring interactions between hot atomic spin ensembles and vector beams.
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Atomic magnetometry is one of the most sensitive field-measurement techniques for biological, geo-surveying, and navigational applications. An essential process in atomic magnetometry is measurement of optical polarization rotation of a near-resonant beam due to its interaction with atomic spins under an external magnetic field. In this work, we present the design and analysis of a silicon-metasurface-based polarization beam splitter that have been tailored for operation in a rubidium magnetometer. The metasurface polarization beam splitter operates at a wavelength of 795 nm and has a transmission efficiency > 83% and a polarization extinction ratio > 20 dB. We show that these performance specifications are compatible with magnetometer operation in miniaturized vapor cells with sub-picotesla-level sensitivity and discuss the prospect of realizing compact, high-sensitivity atomic magnetometers with nanophotonic component integration.