Vector measurements using all optical scalar atomic magnetometers
Abstract
Vector field measurement is demonstrated with an all-optical scalar atomic magnetometer using intrinsic parameters related to its scalar operation. The Bell-Bloom type atomic magnetometer measures the Larmor precession of cesium atoms through on-resonant absorption of a probe beam. While the AC component of the probe signal is used for the field magnitude measurement, the probe DC signal contains information about the polar angle, defined as the angle between the magnetic field and the probe beam. Additional polar angle information is obtained from the light-shift-induced magnetic field caused by the frequency modulation of the probe beam. With a measurement time of 100 ms, better than 0.02° sensitivity has been achieved using a commercial miniaturized sensor at the optimal sensor orientation. The angle measurement accuracy is checked against an optical encoder over the entire polar angle range of 0°–180°. Better than 1° error is recorded over most set polar angles. Azimuthal angle measurement is also exhibited with two orthogonally oriented sensors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 28, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1063/5.0037991
Entities
People
- Easswar Balasubramaniam
- Ken Smith
- Mark Prouty
- Rahul Mhaskar
- Rui Zhang
Organizations
- Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program