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A Low-Noise High-Density Alkali Metal Scalar Magnetometer

S. J. Smullin·I. M. Savukov·G. Vasilakis·R. K. Ghosh·M. V. Romalis
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Abstract

We present an experimental and theoretical study of a scalar atomic magnetometer using an oscillating field-driven Zeeman resonance in a high-density optically-pumped potassium vapor. We describe an experimental implementation of an atomic gradiometer with a noise level below 10 fT/Hz^{1/2}, fractional field sensitivity below 10^{-9}/Hz^{1/2}, and an active measurement volume of about 1.5 cm^3. We show that the fundamental field sensitivity of a scalar magnetometer is determined by the rate of alkali-metal spin-exchange collisions even though the resonance linewidth can be made much smaller than the spin-exchange rate by pumping most atoms into a stretched spin state.

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S. J. Smullin, I. M. Savukov, G. Vasilakis, R. K. Ghosh, M. V. Romalis. 2006-11-08. A Low-Noise High-Density Alkali Metal Scalar Magnetometer. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.80.033420

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