Visualization of magnetic fields with cylindrical vector beams in a warm atomic vapor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to visualize magnetic fields by analyzing absorption patterns created by a radially polarized beam passing through warm atomic vapor, enabling magnetic field measurement and 3D mapping.

Contribution

It introduces an experimental approach using cylindrical vector beams to observe and analyze magnetic fields via absorption pattern features in atomic vapor.

Findings

Absorption patterns rotate with azimuthal magnetic field changes.

Contrast decreases with increasing longitudinal magnetic field.

Magnetic field strength can be determined from transmitted pattern analysis.

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate an experimental implementation for the observation of magnetic fields from spatial features of absorption profiles in a warm atomic vapor. A radially polarized vector beam that traverses an atomic vapor will generate an absorption pattern with petal-like structure by the mediation of a transverse magnetic field (TMF). The spatial absorption pattern rotates when the azimuthal angle of the TMF is changed, while its contrast decreases when the longitudinal component of the magnetic field increases. By analyzing the intensity distribution of the transmitted pattern we can determine the magnetic field strength. Our work provides a framework for investigating three-dimensional magnetic field distributions based on atoms.