A Nanosecond-Resolved Atomic Hydrogen Magnetometer

Abstract

Spin polarized atomic ensembles can be used for the precise measurement of magnetic field. Conventional atomic magnetometers have demonstrated high sensitivities, albeit at low detection bandwidth, fundamentally limited by the Larmor precession frequency of the atoms. Here, we introduce a new type of atomic magnetometer which can realize sensitive detection with high temporal resolution. The magnetometer is based on monitoring the effect of the magnetic field on the hyperfine coherences of spin-polarized hydrogen atoms produced from the rapid photodissociation of hydrogen chloride (HCl). This scheme extends the magnetic measurement bandwidth to an upper frequency limit set by the hyperfine interaction. The use of HCl as the source for polarized atoms allows for large spin densities in the range of $10^{19}$ - $10^{20} cm^{-3}$, many orders of magnitude higher than those achieved with conventional alkali-atomic magnetometers. A spin-projection noise-limited magnetometer smaller than 100 {\mu}m can detect with nanosecond temporal resolution a magnetic field as low as 1 nT. This novel magnetometer opens new possibilities for precise measurement of ultrafast magnetic fields, with applications in biology, surface science and chemistry.