New classes of systematic effects in gas spin co-magnetometers

TL;DR

This paper identifies two new classes of systematic effects in gas co-magnetometers related to magnetic field gradients and temperature, and develops a practical method for calculating their impact on spin relaxation and frequency shifts.

Contribution

It introduces a new $^3$He-$^{129}$Xe co-magnetometer setup and a general approach for analyzing systematic effects due to magnetic and temperature gradients.

Findings

Identified effects related to diffusion in magnetic field gradients.

Discovered effects caused by temperature gradients.

Validated the calculation method experimentally.

Abstract

Atomic co-magnetometers are widely used in precision measurements searching for spin interactions beyond the Standard Model. We describe a new $^3$He-$^{129}$Xe co-magnetometer probed by Rb atoms and use it to identify two general classes of systematic effects in gas co-magnetometers, one associated with diffusion in second-order magnetic field gradients and another due to temperature gradients. We also develop a general and practical approach for calculating spin relaxation and frequency shifts due to arbitrary magnetic field gradients and confirm it experimentally.