Magnetic-field-compensation optical vector magnetometer

Abstract

A concept for an optical magnetometer used for the measurement of magnitude and direction of a magnetic field (B-field) in two orthogonal directions is developed based on double scanning of a B-field to compensate the measured field to zero value, which is monitored by a resonant magneto-optical process in an unshielded atomic vapor cell. Implementation of the technique using the nonlinear Hanle effect on the D₂ line of rubidium demonstrates viability and efficiency of the proposed concept. The ways to enhance characteristics of the suggested technique and optimize its performance, as well as the possible extension to three-axis magnetometry, are discussed.

Forty years after the first dark resonance experiment: an overview of the COSMA project results

“…If the main interest is not an optimized sensitivity, but a wide field measurement and an experimental simplicity, the two axis optical magnetometer of ref. 34 can be a good solution, especially for geophysical and material science studies. The prototype, based on double scanning of a magnetic field and a nonlinear Hanle effect monitoring, has an accuracy of 5 mG over 1.5 G range, with a huge possible improvement by a faster data acquisition system and the feasible extension to the third B field component.…”

Vector magnetocardiography measurement with a compact elliptically polarized laser-pumped magnetometer

“…Various methods exist for realizing the conversion between the scalar and vector modes of an OPM. As typical examples, we can gain vector information by using multiple circularly polarized laser beams [27], or utilizing the ac Stark shift induced by a circularly polarized laser beam [28], or extracting additional information from the first harmonic of the Larmor frequency of an atomic alignment [29], or compensating the measured field [30,31], or exploiting the dependence of electromagnetically induced transparency resonance amplitudes on the external magnetic field direction [32].…”

A Non-Modulated Triaxial Magnetic Field Compensation Method for Spin-Exchange Relaxation-Free Magnetometer Based on Zero-Field Resonance

“…These methods also usually have three different criterions for triaxial magnetic field compensation which can lead to a significant cross-talk effect. Another type is the non-modulated method [17]- [20]. A. Papoyan et al realized a three-axis vector magnetometry method based on the nonlinear Hanle effect which was operated in the unshielded condition [17], [18].…”

“…Another type is the non-modulated method [17]- [20]. A. Papoyan et al realized a three-axis vector magnetometry method based on the nonlinear Hanle effect which was operated in the unshielded condition [17], [18]. This method has a 0.5-1 µT B-field compensation resolution.…”