A highly stable atomic vector magnetometer based on free spin precession

Understand

We present a magnetometer based on optically pumped Cs atoms that measures the magnitude and direction of a 1 $\mu$T magnetic field.

• Multiple circularly polarized laser beams were used to probe the free spin precession of the Cs atoms.
• The design was optimized for long-time stability and achieves a scalar resolution better than 300 fT for integration times ranging from 80 ms to 1000 s.
• The best scalar resolution of less than 80 fT was reached with integration times of 1.6 to 6 s.