Three-axis atomic magnetometer based on spin precession modulation

We demonstrate a three-axis atomic magnetometer with one intensity-modulated pump beam and one orthogonal probe beam. The main field component is measured using the resonance of the pumping light, while the transverse field components are measured simultaneously using the optical rotation of the probe beam modulated by the spin precession. It is an all-optical magnetometer without using any modulation field or radio frequency field. Magnetic field sensitivity of 0.8 pT/Hz(1/2) is achieved under a bias field of 2 mu T. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.