Advanced Optically-driven Spin Precession Magnetometer for ASW

This SBIR Phase I proposal describes the development of a conceptual design for the Advanced Optically-driven Spin Precession Magnetometer (AOSPM), an ultra high-sensitivity scalar laser magnetometer for airborne ASW. The AOSPM is an innovative high-sensitivity instrument capable of measuring scalar DC and ELF magnetic fields with a sensitivity better than 10.0 fT/root-Hz. Since the high sensitivity AOSPM is a scalar instrument, it is free of the extreme motional noise effects associated with all high performance superconducting and optical vector magnetometers. This is a major advantage for airborne ASW applications where future ASW operation will use two high sensitivity scalar magnetometers in a gradiometer mode on a pair of collaborative airborne platforms to reduce geomagnetic noise in the detection band. The POLATOMIC 2000 laser magnetometer has demonstrated a sensitivity of 100 fT/root-Hz. Under this STTR project, the laser magnetometer sensitivity will be improved by more than one order of magnitude through laser noise reduction, improvement in sensor components and use of Optically-driven Spin Precession (OSP) to induce magnetic resonance. The feasibility of fabricating a high sensitivity breadboard AOSP magnetometer in Phase II will be established under this Phase I Project.