Single-beam integrated hybrid optical pumping spin exchange relaxation free magnetometer for biomedical applications

An ingenious approach to accomplish the high signal strengthen and relatively homogeneous spin polarization has been presented in a hybrid optical pumping spin-exchange-relaxation-free atomic magnetometer only utilizing single-beam configuration. We have experimentally demonstrated an approximately three-fold enhancement of the output signal at the optimal spin polarization by optically pumping the thin vapor due to the same spin evolution behavior of the two different kinds of vapor atoms. Eventually, a measuring sensitivity of 30 fT/Hz1/2 was achieved combined with the homemade differential detection system for attenuating large background offset and suppressing optical power noise. This scheme provides a prospect for the development of ultra-highly sensitive and chip-scale atomic magnetometer for the applications that desire both high signal-to-noise ratio and uniform spin polarization, such as magnetocardiography and magnetoencephalography.