Pulsed high magnetic field measurement with a rubidium vapor sensor

We present a new technique to measure pulsed magnetic fields based on the use of rubidium in gas phase as a metrological standard. We have therefore developed an instrument based on laser inducing transitions at about 780 nm (D2 line) in rubidium gas contained in a mini-cell of 3 mm x 3 mm cross section. To be able to insert such a cell in a standard high-field pulsed magnet, we have developed a fibred probe kept at a fixed temperature. Transition frequencies for both the pi (light polarization parallel to the magnetic field) and sigma (light polarization perpendicular to the magnetic field) configurations are measured by a commercial wavemeter. One innovation of our sensor is that in addition to the usual monitoring of the light transmitted by the Rb cell, we also monitor the fluorescence emission of the gas sample from a volume of 0.13 mm(3). Our sensor has been tested up to about 58 T. Published by AIP Publishing.