Dual-Species Synchronous Spin-Exchange Optical Pumping

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel quantum sensor for measuring non-magnetic spin-dependent interactions. This sensor utilizes $^{131}$Xe, $^{129}$Xe, and $^{85}$Rb which are continuously polarized transverse to a pulsed bias field. The transverse geometry of this spin-exchange pumped comagnetometer suppresses longitudinal polarization, which is an important source of systematic error. Simultaneous excitation of both Xe isotopes is accomplished by frequency modulating the repetition rate of the bias field pulses at subharmonics of the Xe Larmor resonance frequencies. The area of each bias pulse causes $2\pi$ Larmor precession of the Rb. We present continuous dual-species Xe excitation and discuss a temperature-dependent wall interaction that limits the $^{129}$Xe polarization. The Rb atoms serve as an embedded magnetometer for detection of the Xe precession. We discuss Rb magnetometer phase shifts, and show that even first-order treatments of these phase shifts can result in order-of-magnitude improvements in the achieved field suppression when performing comagnetometry. The sensing bandwidth of the presented device is 1 Hz, and we demonstrate a white-noise level of 7 $\mu$Hz/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ and a bias instability of $\sim1$ $\mu$Hz.