Eric Corsini

Robust, high-speed, all-optical atomic magnetometer

A self-oscillating magnetometer based on the nonlinear magneto-optical rotation effect with separate modulated pump and unmodulated probe beams is demonstrated. This device possesses a bandwidth exceeding 1kHz. Pump and probe are delivered by optical fiber, facilitating miniaturization and modularization. The magnetometer has been operated both with vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, which are well suited to portable applications, and with conventional edge-emitting diode lasers. A sensitivity of around 3nG is achieved for a measurement time of 1s.

A remotely interrogated all-optical Rb-87 magnetometer

Atomic magnetometry was performed at Earth’s magnetic field over a free-space distance of ten meters. Two laser beams aimed at a distant alkali-vapor cell excited and detected the  87Rb magnetic resonance, allowing the magnetic field within the cell to be interrogated remotely. Operated as a driven oscillator, the magnetometer measured the geomagnetic field with ≲3.5 pT precision in a ∼2 s data acquisition; this precision was likely limited by ambient field fluctuations. The sensor was also operated in self-oscillating mode with a 5.3 pT/Hz noise floor. Further optimization will yield a high-bandwidth, fully remote magnetometer with sub-pT sensitivity.

Small-sized dichroic atomic vapor laser lock

Two, lightweight diode laser frequency stabilization systems designed for experiments in the field are described. A significant reduction in size and weight in both models supports the further miniaturization of measurement devices in the field. Similar to a previous design, magnetic field lines are contained within a magnetic shield enclosing permanent magnets and a Rb cell, so that these dichroic atomic vapor laser lock (DAVLL) systems may be used for magnetically sensitive instruments. The mini-DAVLL system (49 mm long) uses a vapor cell (20 mm long) and does not require cell heaters. An even smaller micro-DAVLL system (9 mm long) uses a microfabricated cell (3 mm square) and requires heaters. These new systems show no degradation in performance with regard to previous designs while considerably reducing dimensions.

Nonlinear Faraday rotation and detection of superposition states in cold atoms

We report on the observation of nonlinear Faraday rotation with cold atoms at a temperature of

Sensitive optical atomic magnetometer based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation

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Search for plant biomagnetism with a sensitive atomic magnetometer

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Rubidium dimers in paraffin-coated cells

K. The observed nonlinear rotation of the light polarization plane is up to

Heading error in an alignment-based magnetometer

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Nonlinear faraday rotation in cold atoms for quantum information and magnetometry

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