Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Sunao Ichihara

Natsuhiko Mizutani

Tetsuo Kobayashi

Hideyuki Sugioka

Shuji Taue

Yosuke Ito

Kiyoshi Ishikawa

Provided is an optically pumped atomic magnetometer that can separate and acquire magnetic information of spatially different places at the same time by one probe beam. The optically pumped atomic magnetometer includes a cell containing alkali metal atoms, a pump beam optical system introducing pump beams including circularly polarized light component to different locations of the cell, a probe beam optical system introducing a probe beam including linearly polarized light component to the cell, a detection unit detecting a signal reflecting a rotation angle of a plane of polarization of the probe beam after intersecting with the pump beams, and an information acquisition unit acquiring information related to a magnetic field intensity of each of the different locations from the detected signal. The pump beam optical system includes a modulation unit modulating the pump beams so that one of frequencies and phases of the pump beams is different.

Optically pumped atomic magnetometer and magnetic sensing method

There is provided an optically pumped magnetometer, in which a pump light having a first wavelength to spin-polarize a first alkali-metal atom group is made to enter a cell containing the first alkali-metal atom group and a second alkali-metal atom group interacting via spin exchange with the first alkali-metal atom group, a probe light having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength to measure spin polarization of the second alkali-metal atom group is made to enter the cell to form the same optical axis as the pump light, a wavelength discrimination unit is provided to discriminate between the pump light and the probe light that passed through the cell depending on a different in wavelength, and the rotation angle of a polarization plane of the probe light that passed through the cell is measured so that the degree of flexibility of the device layout can be increased.

Optically pumped magnetometer

An atomic magnetometer includes a light source for a probe beam and a medium in which the probe beam is to be propagated. The medium is a substance which changes a polarization rotation angle of the probe beam depending on a magnetic field intensity at a first measurement position and a magnetic field intensity at a second measurement position different from the first measurement position. The atomic magnetometer directly measures a difference between the magnetic field intensity at the first measurement position and the magnetic field intensity at the second measurement position as a difference in polarization rotation angle, along a propagation path of the probe beam.

Atomic magnetometer and magnetic sensing method

An atomic magnetometer includes a cell containing an atomic group, a pump light source, a probe light source, a mirror, and a detector. The cell is disposed between the pump light source and the mirror and between the probe light source and the detector. A pump beam emitted from the pump light source is circularly polarized light. The pump beam passes through the cell and is reflected by the mirror and then passes through the cell again. The probe beam emitted from the probe light source is linearly polarized light. An optical path of the probe beam is parallel to the plane of incidence of the pump beam and is also parallel to the surface of the mirror. The optical path of the probe beam crosses the optical path of the pump beam in the cell. The probe beam which has passed through the cell enters the detector.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Sunao Ichihara