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Advanced Photonics Nexus

Light-shift suppression in an optically pumped magnetometer via dual-frequency optical pumping

Huanyu Zhou, J Q Li, Yi Zhang, Shuo Sun, Rongtong Zhu, Yan Xuan, Pengcheng Du, Zhuangsheng Zhu

Published Jun 19, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The light shift represents a major source of measurement error and system noise in optically pumped atomic magnetometers (OPAMs). Tuning the laser frequency to a specific value is a common and effective approach to suppressing light shift in many optical-pumping systems. However, when this method is applied to OPAMs, a significant issue arises: at the zero-light-shift frequency, the magnetometer’s sensitivity decreases markedly. Consequently, it is not possible to optimize simultaneously both the measurement accuracy affected by the light shift and the overall sensitivity of the magnetometer. To address this contradiction, the underlying mechanism was analyzed using the theory of light absorption and the principles governing light–atom interactions, leading to the proposal of a dual-frequency optical-pumping scheme. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach can suppress the light shift by more than 95% while maintaining the optimal sensitivity of the OPAM. The proposed dual-frequency scheme can also be extended to other circularly polarized optical-pumping systems, thereby facilitating both the enhancement of OPAM performance and its practical deployment in real-world applications.

DOI
10.1117/1.apn.5.4.046022

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The light shift represents a major source of measurement error and system noise in optically pumped atomic magnetometers (OPAMs). Tuning the laser frequency to a specific value is a common and effective approach to suppressing light shift in many optical-pumping systems. However, when this method is applied to OPAMs, a significant issue arises: at the zero-light-shift frequency, the magnetometer’s sensitivity decreases markedly. Consequently, it is not possible to optimize simultaneously both the measurement accuracy affected by the light shift and the overall sensitivity of the magnetometer. To address this contradiction, the underlying mechanism was analyzed using the theory of light absorption and the principles governing light–atom interactions, leading to the proposal of a dual-frequency optical-pumping scheme. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach can suppress the light shift by more than 95% while maintaining the optimal sensitivity of the OPAM. The proposed dual-frequency scheme can also be extended to other circularly polarized optical-pumping systems, thereby facilitating both the enhancement of OPAM performance and its practical deployment in real-world applications.
Single-beam optically pumped atomic magnetometers (OPAMs) represent promising candidates for applications in geomagnetic field monitoring, biomedicine, and various other precision sensing domains owing to their exceptional sensitivity, high measurement accuracy, and cost-effectiveness. However, in orientation-based OPAMs utilizing circularly polarized light (CPL) pumping, the off-resonant light introduces light shift. The light shift acts as an additional magnetic field, reducing the measurement accuracy of OPAMs. Moreover, the dependence of the light shift on light intensity and frequency facilitates the conversion of light noise into magnetic noise, thereby degrading the sensitivity of OPAMs. In this study, we propose an optical pumping scheme based on space division multiplexing light (SDML) to suppress the light shift in OPAM. The approach employs two orthogonally polarized linearly polarized beams with a controlled phase difference to generate a spatially periodic distribution of left- and right-handed CPL. Optical pumping with the SDML induces oppositely directed light shifts in distinct spatial regions that effectively cancel each other. Finally, it is verified by experiments that the light shift is greatly suppressed based on SDML. Under detuned SDML pumping, both the light shift and light intensity noise are suppressed by over 50%, while maintaining a sensitivity comparable to that achieved with conventional CPL pumping. The proposed method demonstrates significant potential for magnetometers in light-noise-prone environments, and it can be generalized to other orientation-based magnetometers that rely on CPL pumping.
The light shift is a significant error source of optically pumped atomic magnetometers (OPAMs), requiring accurate calculation or measurement to assess its impact on the accuracy of OPAMs. In this paper, a light shift theoretical model considering the gradient of the pump light is established, providing a detailed description of the light shift distribution within the cell under the influence of multiple parameters. Additionally, a light shift measurement method through magneto optical angle adjustment (MOAA) is proposed, enabling convenient measurement of the light shift. The correctness of the proposed model and the effectiveness of the MOAA method are validated through experiments. The proposed model and method contribute to improving the accuracy of OPAMs and enhancing their performance in practical applications.
The light shift in a spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) atomic magnetometer (AM) generated by detuning of circularly polarized pump light, results in deviations of orthogonality measurement and attenuation of magnetometer response. In this paper, we propose and systematically investigate a dual-axis method to suppress light shift based on a self-developed single-beam compact SERF AM capable of measuring magnetic field components along two orthogonal sensitive axes. By sequentially observing the non-sensitive axis response and applying a magnetic field along the pump light direction, the virtual magnetic field induced by light shift is compensated and is rigorously demonstrated as a dominant component in this direction. Experimental results show a significant reduction in crosstalk between the dual sensitive axes, improving accuracy in resonant frequency determination of87Rb atoms and orthogonality evaluation of triaxial coils. Furthermore, the performance of dual-axis measurement in the SERF AM is tested, showing a more notable enhancement than that of single-axis measurement.
The light shift is an important error source for atomic magnetometers. It would vanish if the frequency of the circularly polarized light is tuned to the optical resonance center. For high-density alkali-metal atomic magnetometers, the vapor cell has a large optical depth near the resonance, resulting in the difficulty in obtaining the exact resonance center by measuring the optical absorption line. In order to solve this problem, we propose a method to tune the pump light to a frequency where the shift is minimum based on the magnetic field zeroing technique. In addition, we also compare our results with the fitting center of the optical absorption line based on the measurement data far detuned from the resonance. The experimental results show that our method achieves a better suppression result of the light shift.
Light shift arising from the circularly polarized pump beam in atomic magnetometers can induce an undesired magnetic response, and thus affect their accuracy. Here, the light shift and the corresponding cross-talk effect in the magnetometer have been investigated, and a scheme with an additional off-resonant pump beam with an appropriate polarization and intensity has been proposed to effectively reject the light shift. And the experimental results reproduce the expected behavior. This scheme provides a powerful tool to reject the light shift in optical pumping systems, in particular, the hybrid optically pumped systems.
In this article, we found an appropriate operating frequency of pump light for stabilizing the light frequency based on the atomic absorption of the vapor cell in the minimized atomic magnetometer. The traditional way to apply this stabilizing method is to stabilize the laser frequency at the absorption peak because its derivative is always zero and not affected by the cell temperature if the pressure shift is suppressed. However, it is observed experimentally that the response amplitude has a drop of up to 40% from the maximum at the absorption peak. It is due to the hyperfine optical pumping, and we explored the applicable condition to obtain the maximum response amplitude by solving the Liouville equation and proved it experimentally as well. Furthermore, we found that under the appropriate pressure, the frequency to obtain maximum response is close to the zero points of the second-order derivative which are not affected by cell temperature as well. Therefore, it is purposed to stabilize the pump laser frequency at these points. It is demonstrated experimentally that the frequency stabilization is the same, while the response amplitude is increased by more than 40% compared to stabilizing at the absorption peak. These results are instructive in improving the performance of minimized atomic magnetometers.