High-Sensitivity Atomic Magnetometer Unaffected by Spin-Exchange Relaxation
Abstract
Alkali-metal magnetometers compete with SQUID detectors as the most sensitive magnetic field sensors. Their sensitivity is limited by relaxation due to spin-exchange collisions. We demonstrate a K magnetometer in which spin-exchange relaxation is completely eliminated by operating at high K density and low magnetic field. Direct measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio give a magnetometer sensitivity of $10\text{ }\mathrm{f}\mathrm{T}\text{ }\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{z}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{1}\mathrm{/}\mathrm{2}}$, limited by magnetic noise produced by Johnson currents in the magnetic shields. We extend a previous theoretical analysis of spin exchange in low magnetic fields to arbitrary spin polarizations and estimate the shot-noise limit of the magnetometer to be $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}\text{ }\mathrm{T}\text{ }\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{z}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{1}\mathrm{/}\mathrm{2}}$.
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OPM-MEG requires a strict zero magnetic field environment to achieve sensitivity to MEG signals.
“However, to achieve sensitivity to the MEG signals, OPM-MEG requires a strict zero magnetic field environment [33].”
From Naturalistic Hyperscanning with Wearable Magnetoencephalography (2023) · cites this paper as [33]
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“However, to achieve sensitivity to the MEG signal, OPM-MEG requires a strict zero magnetic field environment (Allred et al., 2002).”
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- Authors
- Allred, J. C., Lyman, R. N., Kornack, T. W., & Romalis, M. V.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- ORCID
- Kornack, T. W.
- Venue
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2002-09-09
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 130801-130801
- ISSN
- 0031-9007 (ISSN-L)
- 1079-7114
- OpenAlex
- W2077767829
- Cited by
- 1,049
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 88 · 2025: 116 · 2024: 111 · 2023: 105 · 2022: 104 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 82 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 3.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physical Review Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Magnetic Field Sensors Techniques
- Keywords
- atomic magnetometer, spin-exchange collisions, magnetic field sensitivity, shot-noise limit, thermal noise, magnetic shielding, weak magnetic field, spin polarization
- MeSH terms
- Magnetics, Models, Theoretical, Potassium
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