Multi-Parameter Optimization of Rubidium Laser Optically Pumped Magnetometers with Geomagnetic Field Intensity

Abstract

Rubidium laser optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are widely used magnetic sensors based on the Zeeman effect, laser pumping, and magnetic resonance principles. They measure the magnetic field by measuring the magnetic resonance signal passing through a rubidium atomic gas cell. The quality of the magnetic resonance signal is a necessary condition for a magnetometer to achieve high sensitivity. In this research, to obtain the best magnetic resonance signal of rubidium laser OPMs in the Earth’s magnetic field intensity, the experiment system of rubidium laser OPMs is built with a rubidium atomic gas cell as the core component. The linewidth and amplitude ratio (LAR) of magnetic resonance signals is utilized as the optimization objective function. The magnetic resonance signals of the magnetometer experiment system are experimentally measured for different laser frequencies, radio frequency (RF) intensities, laser powers, and atomic gas cell temperatures in a background magnetic field of 50,765 nT. The experimental results indicate that optimizing these parameters can reduce the LAR by one order of magnitude. This shows that the optimal parameter combination can effectively improve the sensitivity of the magnetometer. The sensitivity defined using the noise spectral density measured under optimal experimental parameters is 1.5 pT/Hz1/2@1 Hz. This work will provide key technical support for rubidium laser OPMs’ product development.

Keywords

• rubidium atomic gas cell
• atomic magnetometer
• magnetometer
• sensitivity
• magnetic field measurement