All-optical spin locking in alkali-metal-vapor magnetometers

Bao, Guzhi; Kanta, Dimitra; Antypas, Dionysios; Rochester, Simon; Jensen, Kasper; Zhang, Weiping; Wickenbrock, Arne; Budker, Dmitry

Abstract

The nonlinear Zeeman effect can induce splittings and asymmetries of magnetic-resonance lines in the geophysical magnetic-field range. We demonstrate an all-optical scheme, based on spin locking, to suppress the nonlinear Zeeman effect. This scheme achieves spin locking via an effective oscillating magnetic field in the form of AC Stark shifts induced by an intensity- and polarization-modulated laser beam. This results in the collapse of the multicomponent asymmetric magnetic-resonance line with ~100Hz width in the Earth-field range into a peak with a central component width of 25 Hz. The technique is expected to be broadly applicable in practical magnetometry, potentially boosting the sensitivity and accuracy of Earth-surveying magnetometers by increasing the magnetic-resonance amplitude and decreasing its width. An advantage of the all-optical approach is the absence of crosstalk between nearby sensors when they are used in a gradiometric or array arrangement.

Citation

Bao, G., Kanta, D., Antypas, D., Rochester, S., Jensen, K., Zhang, W., …Budker, D. (2022). All-optical spin locking in alkali-metal-vapor magnetometers. Physical Review A, 105(4), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.105.043109

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 9, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Apr 11, 2022
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 23, 2022
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 105
• Issue: 4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.105.043109
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7767141
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.105.043109