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Phys. Rev. A 75, 023405 (2007) [6 pages]

Detection of radio-frequency magnetic fields using nonlinear magneto-optical rotation

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M. P. Ledbetter*, V. M. Acosta, S. M. Rochester, and D. Budker†
Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-7300, USA

S. Pustelny
Centrum Badań Magnetooptycznych, Instytut Fizyki im. M. Smoluchowskiego, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Reymonta 4, 30-059 Kraków, Poland

V. V. Yashchuk
Advanced Light Source Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

Received 21 September 2006; revised 4 December 2006; published 8 February 2007

We describe a room-temperature alkali-metal atomic magnetometer for detection of small, high-frequency magnetic fields. The magnetometer operates by detecting optical rotation due to the precession of an aligned ground state in the presence of a small oscillating magnetic field. The resonance frequency of the magnetometer can be adjusted to any desired value by tuning the bias magnetic field. Based on experimentally measured signal-to-noise ratio, we demonstrate a sensitivity of 100 pG∕√Hz (rms) in a 3.5-cm-diameter paraffin coated cell. Assuming detection at the photon shot-noise limit, we project a sensitivity as low as 25 pG∕√Hz (rms).

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.75.023405
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.75.023405
PACS:
32.80.Bx, 07.55.Ge, 42.65.−k

*Electronic address: ledbetter@berkeley.edu

†Electronic address: budker@berkeley.edu

 
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