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arXiv · 2507.08791

Microwave-optical double-resonance vector magnetometry with warm Rb atoms

Bahar Babaei·Benjamin D. Smith·Andrei Tretiakov·Andal Narayanan·Lindsay J. LeBlanc
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Abstract

Developing a non-invasive, accurate vector magnetometer that operates at ambient temperature and is conducive to miniaturization and is self-calibrating is a significant challenge. Here, we present an unshielded three-axis vector magnetometer whose operation is based on the angle-dependent relative amplitude of magneto-optical double-resonance features in a room-temperature atomic ensemble. Magnetic-field-dependent double resonance features change the transmission of an optical probe tuned to the D2 optical transition of $^{87}$Rb in the presence of a microwave field driving population between the Zeeman sublevels of the ground state hyperfine levels $F = 1$ and $F = 2$. Sweeping the microwave frequency over all Zeeman sublevels results in seven double-resonance features, whose amplitudes vary as the orientation of the external static magnetic field changes with respect to the optical and microwave field polarization directions. Using a convolutional neural network model, the magnetic field direction is measured in this proof-of-concept experiment with an accuracy of 1° and its amplitude near 50 $μ$T with an accuracy of 115 nT.

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Bahar Babaei, Benjamin D. Smith, Andrei Tretiakov, Andal Narayanan, Lindsay J. LeBlanc. 2025-07-11. Microwave-optical double-resonance vector magnetometry with warm Rb atoms. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.08791

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