Three techniques for measuring the transverse relaxation time of cesium atoms

Abstract

The transverse relaxation time (T2) is an important indicator to determine the fundamental sensitivity limit of alkali-metal atomic magnetometers. We propose a method based on the principle of longitudinal field modulation that obtains T2 by scanning the transverse static magnetic field. The previous technique of extracting T2 from the linewidth of the modulation frequency and the traditional magnetic-resonance-broadening-fitting method are also described. The T2 measurements of Cesium (Cs) atoms are carried out through these three methods, whose operating environments are applicable to different atomic magnetometers, respectively. The method that we propose can be used for obtaining the T2 of Cs atoms as well as detecting the transverse static magnetic field and is customized for the study of the Cs–Xenon ensemble for the construction of nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscopes. Moreover, the relationship between the limit sensitivities and cell temperatures is further studied in the experiment.