High-sensitivity atomic magnetometer unaffected by spin-exchange relaxation

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Sep 23;89(13):130801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.130801. Epub 2002 Sep 9.

Abstract

Alkali-metal magnetometers compete with SQUID detectors as the most sensitive magnetic field sensors. Their sensitivity is limited by relaxation due to spin-exchange collisions. We demonstrate a K magnetometer in which spin-exchange relaxation is completely eliminated by operating at high K density and low magnetic field. Direct measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio give a magnetometer sensitivity of 10 fT Hz(-1/2), limited by magnetic noise produced by Johnson currents in the magnetic shields. We extend a previous theoretical analysis of spin exchange in low magnetic fields to arbitrary spin polarizations and estimate the shot-noise limit of the magnetometer to be 2x10(-18) T Hz(-1/2).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Magnetics* / instrumentation
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Potassium / chemistry

Substances

  • Potassium