Alkali-vapor magnetic resonance driven by fictitious radiofrequency fields

TL;DR

This paper presents an all-optical alkali-vapor magnetometer driven by fictitious radiofrequency fields, achieving high sensitivity comparable to coil-driven devices, with potential advantages for array applications and fundamental physics experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel all-optical method for driving magnetic resonance using the AC Stark shift, eliminating the need for physical RF coils.

Findings

Achieved a shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 1.7 fT/Hz$^{1/2}$

Demonstrated equivalent performance to coil-driven magnetometers

Showcased advantages for array configurations and fundamental physics tests

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-optical $^{133}$Cs scalar magnetometer, operating in nonzero magnetic field,in which the magnetic resonance is driven by an effective oscillating magnetic field provided by the AC Stark shift of an intensity-modulated laser beam. We achieve a projected shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 1.7 fT/Hz$^{1/2}$ and measure a technical noise floor of 40 fT/Hz$^{1/2}$. These results are essentially identical to a coil-driven scalar magnetometer using the same setup. This all-optical scheme offers advantages over traditional coil-driven magnetometers for use in arrays and in magnetically sensitive fundamental physics experiments e.g., searches for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron.