SERF magnetometers based on dense ensembles of alkali-metal spins are precision quantum sensors that hold the record of measured and projected sensitivity to magnetic fields, in the $μ\textrm{G}-\textrm{mG}$ range. At geomagnetic fields however, these sensors quickly lose their magnetic sensitivity due to spin decoherence by random spin-exchange collisions. Here we discover that atoms with nuclear spin $I=1/2$ can operate in the Spin-Exchange Relaxation Free (SERF) regime even at high magnetic field. We counter-intuitively show that frequent collisions between a dense and optically-inaccessible $(I=1/2)$ gas with another optically-accessible spin gas ($I>1/2$) improve the fundamental magnetic sensitivity of the latter. We analyze the performance of a dual-specie potassium and atomic hydrogen magnetometer, and project a fundamental sensitivity of about $10\,\mathrm{aT}\sqrt{\mathrm{cm}^3/\mathrm{Hz}}$ at geomagnetic fields for feasible experimental conditions.
Spin-exchange collisions in hot vapours are generally regarded as a decoherence mechanism. In contrast, we show that linear and non-linear spin-exchange coupling can lead to the generation of atomic coherence in a Bell-Bloom magnetometer. In particular, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that non-linear spin exchange coupling, acting in an analogous way to a wave-mixing mechanism, can create new modes of coherent excitation which inherit the magnetic properties of the natural Larmor coherence. The generated coherences further couple via linear spin-exchange interaction, leading to…
The detection of environmental magnetic fields is well established by optically pumped atomic magnetometers. Another focus of magnetometry can be the research on magnetic or spin-active solid-state samples. Here we introduce a simple and compact design of a rubidium-based M$_{\mathrm{x}}$-magnetometer, which allows for hosting solid-state samples. The optical, mechanical and electrical design is reported, as well as simple measurements which introduce the ground-state spin-relaxation time, the signal-to-noise ratio of a measurement, and subsequently the overall sensitivity of the magnetometer.…
When incorporated in quantum sensing protocols, quantum error correction can be used to correct for high frequency noise, as the correction procedure does not depend on the actual shape of the noise spectrum. As such, it provides a powerful way to complement usual refocusing techniques. Relaxation imposes a fundamental limit on the sensitivity of state of the art quantum sensors which cannot be overcome by dynamical decoupling. The only way to overcome this is to utilize quantum error correcting codes. We present a superconducting magnetometry design that incorporates approximate quantum error…
The response of a SERF atomic magnetometer to a repetitive short-pulsed pump was investigated. Quantum sub-resonances at a repetition rate of $1/n$ of the Larmor frequency of the magnetic field inside the shield are experimentally observed and theoretically explained. This is a type of synchronization phenomenon. Investigations in single alkali atoms cells as well as mixed alkali atoms of K and Rb are presented. In the later, one species is pumped while the probe is on the other specie polarized by spin exchange. The effect of spin destruction, spin exchange and collisions are studied in order…
We report a photon shot-noise-limited (SNL) optical magnetometer based on amplitude modulated optical rotation using a room-temperature $^{85}$Rb vapor in a cell with anti-relaxation coating. The instrument achieves a room-temperature sensitivity of $70$ fT/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ at $7.6$ $μ$T. Experimental scaling of noise with optical power, in agreement with theoretical predictions, confirms the SNL behaviour from $5$ $μ$T to $75$ $μ$T. The combination of best-in-class sensitivity and SNL operation makes the system a promising candidate for application of squeezed light to a state-of-the-art …
We disclose a method to obtain the transverse light-shift along the probe light of a single-axis alkali metal-noble gas co-magnetometer. The relationship between transverse compensating field and light-shift is deduced through the steady-state solution of Bloch equations. The variety of probe light intensity is used to obtain the residual magnetic field, and step modulation tests are applied to acquire the total spin-relaxation rate of electron spins and self-compensation point. Finally, the transverse light-shift is reduced from -0.115 nT to -0.039 nT by optimizing the probe light wavelength,…
Magnetic sensing and imaging instruments are important tools in biological and material sciences. There is an increasing demand for attaining higher sensitivity and spatial resolution, with implementations using a single qubit offering potential improvements in both directions. In this article we describe a scanning magnetometer based on the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond as the sensor. By means of a quantum-assisted readout scheme together with advances in photon collection efficiency, our device exhibits an enhancement in signal to noise ratio of close to an order of magnitude compared t…
Spin-exchange collisions in alkali vapors have been at the basis of several fundamental and applied investigations, like nuclear structure studies and tests of fundamental symmetries, ultra-sensitive atomic magnetometers, magnetic resonance and bio-magnetic imaging. Spin-exchange collisions cause loss of spin coherence, and concomittantly produce spin noise, both phenomena being central to quantum metrology. We here develop the quantum trajectory picture of spin-exchange collisions, consistent with their long-standing ensemble description using density matrices. We then use quantum trajectorie…
We study relaxation processes of the spins of dipolar-coupled negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV$^-$) centers under transverse electric and magnetic fields. Specifically, we uncover regimes where flip-flop, double-flip processes as well as mixing induced by local electric fields play a significant role in NV-NV cross-relaxation. Our results are relevant for understanding decoherence in many-body spin systems as well as for high sensitivity magneto- and electro-metry with long-lived interacting solid-state spins. As a proof of principle, we present an orientation and microwave-free magneto…
Ultimate sensitivity for quantum magnetometry using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond is limited by number of NV centers and coherence time. Microwave irradiation with a high and homogeneous power density for a large detection volume is necessary to achieve highly sensitive magnetometer. Here, we demonstrate a microwave resonator to enhance the power density of the microwave field and an optical system with a detection volume of 1.4e-3 mm$^3$. The strong microwave field enables us to achieve 48 ns Rabi oscillation which is sufficiently faster than the phase relaxation time of NV centers…
Radical-ion pairs and their reactions have triggered the study of quantum effects in biological systems. This is because they exhibit a number of effects best understood within quantum information science, and at the same time are central in understanding the avian magnetic compass and the spin transport dynamics in photosynthetic reaction centers. Here we address radical-pair reactions from the perspective of quantum metrology. Since the coherent spin motion of radical-pairs is effected by an external magnetic field, these spin-dependent reactions essentially realize a biochemical magnetomete…
Microscopic imaging of local magnetic fields provides a window into the organizing principles of complex and technologically relevant condensed matter materials. However, a wide variety of intriguing strongly correlated and topologically nontrivial materials exhibit poorly understood phenomena outside the detection capability of state-of-the-art high-sensitivity, high-resolution scanning probe magnetometers. We introduce a quantum-noise-limited scanning probe magnetometer that can operate from room to cryogenic temperatures with unprecedented DC-field sensitivity and micron-scale resolution. T…
Modeling blocking temperature in molecular magnets has been a long standing problem in the field of molecular magnetism. We investigate this problem using a kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) approach on an assembly of 100,000 short molecular magnetic chains (SMMCs), each of six identical spins with nearest neighbour anisotropic ferromagnetic exchange interactions. Each spin is also anisotropic with an uniaxial anisotropy. The site spin on these SMMCs take values $1$, $3/2$ or $2$. Using eigenstates of these SMMCs as the states of Markov chain, we carry out a kMC simulation starting with an initial sta…
