Principles of Operation of the Rubidium VaporMagnetometer

This paper discusses some of the basic problems involved in designing and using a magnetometer employing optical pumping. Particular attention is given to magnetometers of the self-oscillating type; i.e., those that are analogous to masers in that the resonant properties of the spin system itself are used to sustain continuous oscillation at the resonant frequency. Among the topics treated are amplitude variations with orientation, sensitivity, behavior in extremely weak magnetic fields, and response to rapid field changes.