We discuss a vector magnetometer prototype which operates in unshielded manner to measure earth’s field. It is designed using feedback control of a magnetic resonance produced by synchronous coherent population trapping in a rubidium cell.
Vector magnetic field measurement is required in several applications including magnetic surveys, navigation and anomalies detection. We have designed and developed a vector magnetometer prototype that can be deployed in the field to survey earth’s magnetic field. Vector operation is enabled in this prototype by using the phenomenon of synchronous coherent population trapping (SCPT), and combining it with a feedback compensation mechanism. The prototype utilizes a small rubidium cell which is placed inside a three-axis field coil. Magnetic field along each axis is measured by performing a peak-lock on one of the strongest resonances produced by SCPT and compensating the external magnetic field via servo control of the three-axis field coil. Under this locked condition, the feedback current applied to each coil in the three-axis system gives a real-time, single-shot measurement of the magnetic field components. Extensive testing of the prototype is being done by performing magnetic field measurements in the magnetically noisy environment inside the laboratory and in-comparison with that of a fluxgate sensor.
We have developed a field-deployable vector magnetometer using a small rubidium vapor cell, which is capable of measuring the magnitude and direction of the earth's magnetic field with high accuracy and sensitivity. The magnetometer measures Larmor precession of rubidium atoms using the phenomenon, called synchronous coherent population trapping (SCPT). This gives the advantage of producing a high contrast and narrow linewidth resonance needed for measuring the magnetic field with high accuracy and sensitivity. The magnetometer exhibits sub-nT/√Hz sensitivities in measuring the field components along the three directions.
We demonstrate a real-time, single-shot vector magnetic measurement technique using synchronous coherent population trapping (SCPT) in an apparatus consisting of a small rubidium vapor cell. Vector modality of our magnetometer is enabled by designing a feedback system based on performing a peak-lock on a particularly strong 2ΩL magnetic resonance produced in the SCPT spectrum and compensating the external magnetic field via a three-axis field coil. With its current design, this magnetometer exhibits high sensitivities of approximately 155, 129, and 57pT/Hz in measuring the magnetic field vector components along the (x,y,z) axes. Sensitivities closer to the shot-noise limit can be achieved in the future by reducing the technical noise of our equipment and by employing a differential detection and polarization rotation measurement scheme in our system.
We demonstrate a new mechanism, suitable for performing remote earth field measurement using synchronous modulation of two laser fields, which are two-photon resonant with the sodium atom’s hyperfine ground states. This mechanism relies on coherent population trapping (CPT), and thus, called the synchronous CPT scheme. We have measured the magnetic resonances in fluorescence from a sodium cell to demonstrate suitability of this scheme for remote magnetometry. A strong magnetic resonance with its dip corresponding to the Larmor frequency is produced in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. To estimate the optimal duty cycle of light modulation for attaining high performance, we measured the amplitudes and linewidths of the magnetic resonance as a function of the duty cycle, by keeping the peak intensity in CPT fields constant.