Magnetometer suitable for Earth field measurement based on transient atomic response

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple atomic magnetometer using $^{87}$Rb vapor that measures Earth's magnetic field with high sensitivity by analyzing transient atomic responses, suitable for practical monitoring applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel transient atomic response method for Earth magnetic field measurement using a simple $^{87}$Rb vapor magnetometer, achieving high sensitivity and potential for practical use.

Findings

Sensitivity of 1.5 nT/√Hz demonstrated in laboratory measurements

Predicted sensitivity of 30 pT/√Hz for future applications

Analysis of parameters affecting magnetometer precision and accuracy

Abstract

We describe the development of a simple atomic magnetometer using $^{87}$Rb vapor suitable for Earth magnetic field monitoring. The magnetometer is based on time-domain determination of the transient precession frequency of the atomic alignment around the measured field. A sensitivity of 1.5 nT/$\sqrt{Hz}$ is demonstrated on the measurement of the Earth magnetic field in the laboratory. We discuss the different parameters determining the magnetometer precision and accuracy and predict a sensitivity of 30 pT/$\sqrt{Hz}$