SERF

For the unfree peasant Serf, see Serfdom.

A spin exchange relaxation-free (SERF) magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.

The name for the technique comes from the fact that spin exchange relaxation, a mechanism which usually scrambles the orientation of atomic spins, is avoided in these magnetometers. This is done by using a high (1014 cm−3) density of potassium atoms and a very low magnetic field. Under these conditions, the atoms exchange spin quickly compared to their magnetic precession frequency so that the average spin interacts with the field and is not destroyed by decoherence.[1]

A SERF magnetometer achieves very high magnetic field sensitivity by monitoring a high density vapor of alkali metal atoms precessing in a near-zero magnetic field.[2] The sensitivity of SERF magnetometers improves upon traditional atomic magnetometers by eliminating the dominant cause of atomic spin decoherence caused by spin-exchange collisions among the alkali metal atoms. SERF magnetometers are among the most sensitive magnetic field sensors and in some cases exceed the performance of SQUID detectors of equivalent size. A small 1 cm3 volume glass cell containing potassium vapor has reported 1 fT/√Hz sensitivity and can theoretically become even more sensitive with larger volumes.[3] They are vector magnetometers capable of measuring all three components of the magnetic field simultaneously.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Allred JC, Lyman RN, Kornack TW, Romalis MV (2002). "High-sensitivity atomic magnetometer unaffected by spin-exchange relaxation". Phys Rev Lett. 89 (13): 130801. Bibcode:2002PhRvL..89m0801A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.130801. PMID 12225013.
  2. ^ Allred, J. C.; Lyman, R. N.; Kornack, T. W.; Romalis, M. V. (2002). "High-Sensitivity Atomic Magnetometer Unaffected by Spin-Exchange Relaxation". Phys Rev Lett. 89 (13): 130801. Bibcode:2002PhRvL..89m0801A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.130801. PMID 12225013.
  3. ^ Kominis, I. K.; Kornack, T. W.; Allred, J. C.; Romalis, M. V. (April 10, 2003). "A subfemtotesla multichannel atomic magnetometer". Nature. 422 (6932): 596–599. Bibcode:2003Natur.422..596K. doi:10.1038/nature01484. PMID 12686995. S2CID 4204465.