Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.3
3.4
Journals
Sensors
Special Issues
Atomic Magnetic Sensors
sensors-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Sensors Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Atomic Magnetic Sensors

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2025 | Viewed by 7811

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Witold Chalupczak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK
Interests: atomic physics; atomic sensors in inductive measurements; portable atomic sensors; magnetometer; atomic clock; spin exchange; magnetic field
Dr. Patrick Bevington

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK
Interests: atomic clock; magnetometers; magnetic field; laser

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The topic of atomic magnetic sensor technology offers two important benefits to the R&D community through technical and fundamental studies.

To those inclined towards the practical aspects of measurement, there are well-matured aspects of the technology that enable the exploration of real-life applications for atomic physics concepts. Attractive application areas such as magnetoencephalography (near-zero field) or geomagnetic surveys (earth's field) have been studied extensively. These activities are complemented by the development of sensor components, such as silicon wafer vapour cells and sophisticated magnetic coil designs, that allow the miniaturisation of the measurement unit.

However, this is also a fertile topic for those interested in the fundamental aspects of sensor operation. The development of concepts that improve sensor performance beyond the standard quantum limits, the validation of novel modes of operation, and the expansion of sensor functionalities prove that the field of the atomic magnetic sensors offers opportunities to demonstrate transformative ideas that extend beyond atomic, optical, and molecular physics.

We would like to address these two aspects in this Special Issue of Sensors and present a breadth of research activities from within the atomic magnetic sensors community.

Dr. Witold Chalupczak
Dr. Patrick Bevington
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 8651 KiB  
Article
Rotating Polarization Magnetometry
by Szymon Pustelny and Przemysław Włodarczyk
Sensors 2025, 25(9), 2682; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25092682 - 24 Apr 2025
Viewed by 90
Abstract
Precise magnetometry is vital in numerous scientific and technological applications. At the forefront of sensitivity, optical atomic magnetometry, particularly techniques utilizing nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR), enables ultraprecise measurements across a broad field range. Despite their potential, these techniques reportedly lose sensitivity in higher [...] Read more.
Precise magnetometry is vital in numerous scientific and technological applications. At the forefront of sensitivity, optical atomic magnetometry, particularly techniques utilizing nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR), enables ultraprecise measurements across a broad field range. Despite their potential, these techniques reportedly lose sensitivity in higher magnetic fields, which is attributed to the alignment-to-orientation conversion (AOC) process. In our study, we utilized light with continuously rotating linear polarization to avoid the AOC, which produced robust optical signals and achieving high magnetometric sensitivity over a dynamic range nearly three times greater than Earth’s magnetic field. We demonstrated that employing rotating polarization surpasses other NMOR techniques that use modulated light. Our findings also indicate that the previously observed signal deterioration was not due to the AOC, suggesting an alternative cause for this decline. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Magnetic Sensors)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 8866 KiB  
Article
Characterizing Subsurface Environments Using Borehole Magnetic Gradiometry
by Mohammad Forman Asgharzadeh, Hasan Ghasemzadeh, Ralph von Frese and Kamran Ighani
Sensors 2025, 25(1), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25010171 - 31 Dec 2024
Viewed by 648
Abstract
Forward modeling the magnetic effects of an inferred source is the basis of magnetic anomaly inversion for estimating subsurface magnetization parameters. This study uses numerical least-squares Gauss–Legendre quadrature (GLQ) integration to evaluate the magnetic potential, anomaly, and gradient components of a cylindrical prism [...] Read more.
Forward modeling the magnetic effects of an inferred source is the basis of magnetic anomaly inversion for estimating subsurface magnetization parameters. This study uses numerical least-squares Gauss–Legendre quadrature (GLQ) integration to evaluate the magnetic potential, anomaly, and gradient components of a cylindrical prism element. Relative to previous studies, it quantifies for the first time the magnetic gradient components, enabling their applications in the interpretation of cylindrical bodies. A comparison of this method to other methods of evaluating the vertical component of the magnetic field associated with a full cylinder shows that it has comparable to improved performance in computational accuracy and speed. Based on the developed theory, a conceptual design is presented for an instrument to measure the magnetic gradient effects of subsurface material in the vicinity of a borehole. The significance of this instrument relative to conventional borehole magnetometers is in its ability to determine the azimuthal directions of magnetic sources within the borehole environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Magnetic Sensors)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 4538 KiB  
Article
Measuring Transverse Relaxation with a Single-Beam 894 nm VCSEL for Cs-Xe NMR Gyroscope Miniaturization
by Qingyang Zhao, Ruochen Zhang and Hua Liu
Sensors 2024, 24(17), 5692; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24175692 - 1 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1193
Abstract
The spin-exchange-pumped nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope (NMRG) is a pivotal tool in quantum navigation. The transverse relaxation of atoms critically impacts the NMRG’s performance parameters and is essential for judging normal operation. Conventional methods for measuring transverse relaxation typically use dual beams, which [...] Read more.
The spin-exchange-pumped nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope (NMRG) is a pivotal tool in quantum navigation. The transverse relaxation of atoms critically impacts the NMRG’s performance parameters and is essential for judging normal operation. Conventional methods for measuring transverse relaxation typically use dual beams, which involves complex optical path and frequency stabilization systems, thereby complicating miniaturization and integration. This paper proposes a method to construct a 133Cs parametric resonance magnetometer using a single-beam vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) to measure the transverse relaxation of 129Xe and 131Xe. Based on this method, the volume of the gyroscope probe is significantly reduced to 50 cm3. Experimental results demonstrate that the constructed Cs-Xe NMRG can achieve a transverse relaxation time (T2) of 8.1 s under static conditions. Within the cell temperature range of 70 °C to 110 °C, T2 decreases with increasing temperature, while the signal amplitude inversely increases. The research lays the foundation for continuous measurement operations of miniaturized NMRGs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Magnetic Sensors)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 5286 KiB  
Article
An Optically Pumped Magnetometer with Omnidirectional Magnetic Field Sensitivity
by Volkmar Schultze, Theo Scholtes, Gregor Oelsner, Florian Wittkaemper, Torsten Wieduwilt and Ronny Stolz
Sensors 2023, 23(15), 6866; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23156866 - 2 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2561
Abstract
In mobile applications such as geomagnetic surveying, two major effects hamper the use of optically pumped magnetometers: dead zones, sensor orientations where the sensors signal amplitude drops; and heading errors, a dependence of the measured magnetic field value on the sensor orientation. We [...] Read more.
In mobile applications such as geomagnetic surveying, two major effects hamper the use of optically pumped magnetometers: dead zones, sensor orientations where the sensors signal amplitude drops; and heading errors, a dependence of the measured magnetic field value on the sensor orientation. We present a concept for an omnidirectional magnetometer to overcome both of these effects. The sensor uses two cesium vapor cells, interrogated by circularly-polarized amplitude-modulated laser light split into two beams propagating perpendicular to each other. This configuration is experimentally investigated using a setup wherein the laser beam and magnetic field direction can be freely adjusted relative to each other within a magnetically shielded environment. We demonstrate that a dead-zone-free magnetometer can be realized with nearly isotropic magnetic-field sensitivity. While in the current configuration we observe heading errors emerging from light shifts and shifts due to the nonlinear Zeeman effect, we introduce a straightforward approach to suppress these systematic effects in an advanced sensor realization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Magnetic Sensors)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2561 KiB  
Article
Different Configurations of Radio-Frequency Atomic Magnetometers—A Comparative Study
by Patrick Bevington and Witold Chalupczak
Sensors 2022, 22(24), 9741; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249741 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2244
Abstract
We comprehensively explore different optical configurations of a radio-frequency atomic magnetometer in the context of sensor miniaturisation. Similarities and differences in operation principles of the magnetometer arrangements are discussed. Through analysis of the radio-frequency and noise spectra, we demonstrate that all configurations provide [...] Read more.
We comprehensively explore different optical configurations of a radio-frequency atomic magnetometer in the context of sensor miniaturisation. Similarities and differences in operation principles of the magnetometer arrangements are discussed. Through analysis of the radio-frequency and noise spectra, we demonstrate that all configurations provide the same level of atomic polarisation and signal-to-noise ratio, but the optimum performance is achieved for significantly different laser powers and frequencies. We conclude with possible strategies for system miniaturisation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Magnetic Sensors)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop