Dual channel self-oscillating optical magnetometer

We report on a two-channel magnetometer based on nonlinear magneto-optical rotation in a Cs glass cell with buffer gas. The Cs atoms are optically pumped and probed by free running diode lasers tuned to the D-2 line. A wide frequency modulation of the pump laser is used to produce both synchronous Zeeman optical pumping and hyperfine repumping. The magnetometer works in an unshielded environment, and a spurious signal from distant magnetic sources is rejected by means of differential measurement. In this regime the magnetometer simultaneously gives the magnetic field modulus and the field difference. Rejection of the common-mode noise allows for high-resolution magnetometry with a sensitivity of 2 pT/root Hz. This sensitivity, in conjunction with long-term stability and a large bandwidth, makes it possible to detect water proton magnetization and its free induction decay in a measurement volume of 5 cm(3). (C) 2009 Optical Society of America