We report on extensive studies on the intrinsic sensitivity of a combined He/Cs magnetometer. The magnetometer relies on the detection of the free spin precession of nuclear spin polarized He by optically pumped cesium magnetometers. We characterize the relevant processes involved in the detection and quantify their impact on the total sensitivity of the magnetometer. An expression is derived t...

We report on the design and performance of a highly sensitive combined He/Cs magnetometer for the absolute measurement of magnetic fields. The magnetometer relies on the magnetometric detection of the free spin precession of nuclear spin polarized He gas by optically pumped cesium magnetometers. We plan to deploy this type of combined magnetometer in an experiment searching for a permanent elec...

The Mobile Asteroid Scout (MASCOT) is a small lander on board the Hayabusa2 mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to the asteroid 162173 Ryugu. Among the instruments on MASCOT is a fluxgate magnetometer, the MASCOT Magnetometer (MasMag). The magnetometer is a lightweight (∼ 280 g) and low power (∼ 0.5 W) triaxial fluxgate magnetometer. Magnetic field measurements during the landing ...

We summarize here the main practical results obtained in the Institute of Electronics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences under the project: “New alloptical systems and methods for magnetic and electromagnetic field measurement”, financed by EC (contract G6RD-CT-2001-00642). The project Consortium consists of the following partners: Department of Physics, University of Siena, Italy, Project Co...

We have built an optical magnetometer based on the nonlinear Faraday effect in hot Rb vapor and probe this device with both coherent light and polarization-squeezed light. We generate the squeezed light states using the polarization self-rotation effect in Rb vapor, optimized for the highest noise suppression, giving us a system which is allatomic. By probing with polarization-squeezed states o...

Atomic co-magnetometers can be utilized for high-precision angular velocity sensing or fundamental physics tests. The sensitivity of a co-magnetometer determines the angle random walk of an angular velocity sensor and the detection limit for a fundamental physics test. A high-sensitivity K-Rb-21Ne co-magnetometer, which is utilized for angular velocity sensing, is presented in this paper. A new...

We demonstrate detection of NMR signals using a noncryogenic atomic magnetometer and describe several novel applications of this technique. A nuclear spin-precession signal from water is detected using a spin-exchange-relaxation-free potassium magnetometer. We also demonstrate detection of less than 10(13) 129Xe atoms whose NMR signal is enhanced by a factor of 540 due to Fermi-contact interact...

A three-axis magnetometer based on the nonlinear magneto-optic effect is described. The magnetometer was used to measure the average (over the cell volume) residual magnetic field and to determine the shielding ratio of a multi-layer magnetic shield. The shot-noise-limited sensitivity of the magnetometer is estimated to be ≈10 Gs/Hz. A possible application to parity and time reversal invariance...

In atomic magnetometers, the vector AC-Stark shift associated with circularly polarized light generates spatially varying effective magnetic fields, which limit the magnetometer response and serve as sources of noise. We describe a scheme whereby optically pumping a small subvolume of the magnetometer cell and relying on diffusion to transport polarized atoms allows a magnetometer to be operate...

2014 The principles of operation of a modulated inductance magnetometer and the problems that have been encountered in an attempt to realize the expected sensitivity are discussed. A magnetometer for which inductance modulation is effected by a superconducting plane vibrating near a long inductance element is described. The suitability of this magnetometer to the measurement of small magnetic f...