The influence of longitudinal magnetic-field gradient on the transverse relaxation rate of cesium atoms

Reducing the transverse relaxation rate of alkali atoms is crucial to improve the sensitivity of the magnetometers. In a perturbative treatment of the effects of the magnetic-field gradients, the transverse relaxation rates of alkali atoms are predicted to be proportional to the square of the longit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Y. Y. Fu, J. Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2017-11-01
Series:AIP Advances
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5005956
Description
Summary:Reducing the transverse relaxation rate of alkali atoms is crucial to improve the sensitivity of the magnetometers. In a perturbative treatment of the effects of the magnetic-field gradients, the transverse relaxation rates of alkali atoms are predicted to be proportional to the square of the longitudinal magnetic-field gradient. The theoretical predictions are confirmed in our experiments. The magnetic-field gradients in the vapor cell are measured by experiments. The magnetic-field gradient in the cell is suppressed drastically through compensating it with the compensation coils. Experimental results show that suppressing the magnetic-field gradient can reduce the transverse relaxation rate of alkali atoms significantly. This study contributes to the development of ultra-high sensitivity alkali atomic magnetometers.
ISSN:2158-3226