Vector light shift averaging in paraffin-coated alkali vapor cells

POSTER

Abstract

Light shifts are an important source of noise and systematics in optically pumped magnetometers. We demonstrate that the long spin coherence time in paraffin-coated cells leads to spatial averaging of the light shifts over the entire cell volume. This renders the averaged light shift independent, under certain approximations, of the light-intensity distribution within the sensor cell. These results and the underlying mechanism can be extended to other spatially varying phenomena in anti-relaxation-coated cells with long coherence times.

Authors

  • Elena Zhivun

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • Arne Wickenbrock

    • Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz

  • Julia Sudyka

    • Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics

  • Brian Patton

    • University of California, Berkeley

  • Szymon Pustelny

    • Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics

  • Dmitry Budker

    • Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Helmholtz Institute, JGU, Mainz, Germany
    • Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz