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Active Magnetic-Field Stabilization with Atomic Magnetometer
Rui Zhang1,2, Yudong Ding2, Yucheng Yang2
1College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
Abstract:
A magnetically-quiet environment is important for detecting faint magnetic-field signals or nonmagnetic spin-dependent interactions. Passive magnetic shielding using layers of large magnetic-permeability materials is widely used to reduce the magnetic-field noise. The magnetic-field noise can also be actively monitored with magnetometers and then compensated, acting as a complementary method to the passive shielding. We present here a general model to quantitatively depict and optimize the performance of active magnetic-field stabilization and experimentally verify our model using optically-pumped atomic magnetometers. We experimentally demonstrate a magnetic-field noise rejection ratio of larger than ∼800 at low frequencies and an environment with a magnetic-field noise floor of ∼40 fT/Hz1/2 in unshielded Earth's field. The proposed model provides a general guidance on analyzing and improving the performance of active magnetic-field stabilization with magnetometers. This work offers the possibility of sensitive detections of magnetic-field signals in a variety of unshielded natural environments.
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