Spin-squeezed vector atomic magnetometry

Abstract

Atomic magnetometers based on Zeeman shift measurement have the potential for high sensitivity and long-term stability. Like other atomic sensors, including atomic clocks and atom interferometers, the atomic magnetometer could, in principle, be augmented with spin squeezing for further sensitivity enhancement. However, existing atomic magnetometers are not compatible with spin squeezing because the atoms can hardly be in a pure quantum state during operation. Moreover, a natural challenge faced by an atomic magnetometer is the arbitrary direction of the magnetic field. In this paper, we propose a cold-atom-based magnetometer with spin squeezing that can measure both the magnitude and the direction of an arbitrary magnetic field. For experimentally accessible parameters, we show that the technique described above could potentially achieve a sensitivity nearly two orders of magnitude higher than that of the best existing magnetometers.