Improvement of an Optically Pumped Magnetometer Using a Combination of D1 and D2 Transitions

Abstract

The magnetic resonance spectra of 133Cs vapor were obtained using a D1 transition, a D2 transition, and a combination of D1 and D2 transitions. Maximum intensity (Imax) and line width (Δf) in the spectra were measured, and an “α value” (i.e., Imax/Δf) was defined as an appropriate figure of merit for an optically pumped magnetometer (OPM). The α value obtained using the combination of D1 and D2 transitions was tenfold larger than that obtained using the D1 transition and 160 times larger than that obtained using the D2 transition. This result indicates that using the combination of D1 and D2 transitions improves the sensitivity of an OPM.