Phase-gradient metasurface enables atomic spin chirality detection for elliptically polarized laser-pumped atomic magnetometer

Jiahao Zhang^{1, 3, 4},
Shuo Sun^{1, 2, 3, 4},
Huanyu Zhou^{1, 3, 4},
Rongtong Zhu^{1, 3, 4},
Ruofan Li^{1, 3, 4},
Jin Li^{1, 3, 4}

1.
School of Instrumentation and Optoelectronic Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China
2.
College of Optical and Electronic Technology, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
3.
National Institute of Extremely-Weak Magnetic Field Infrastructure, Hangzhou, 310051, China
4.
Beihang Hangzhou Innovation Institute, Hangzhou, 310052, China

Funds: This work was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Plan (“Jianbing and Lingyan”) project (Grant No. 2024C01099), Beijing Natural Science Foundation-Non-Consensus Innovation Project (Grant No. F251046), National Natural Science Fund for Excellent Young Scientists Fund Program (Grant No. KZ37124001), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42388101).

摘要

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Abstract: The powerful light field manipulation capability of metasurfaces offers a novel development perspective for the quantum precision measurement. By applying the phase-gradient metasurface (PGM) to atomic magnetometers (AMs), we have proposed and experimentally demonstrated a new type of compact single-beam elliptically polarized atomic magnetometers (EPAMs). Employing the fabricated chiral beam splitter PGM with high cross-polarization transmittance, a new atomic spin chirality detection method was devised, enabling the ultra-high sensitivity for extremely weak magnetic field measurement and achieving a high sensitivity of 2.67 pT/Hz^1/2 under an external magnetic field of approximately 10,000 nT. The new AMs combine the pumping and probing polarized light, achieving a compact design. The fabricated PGM has a size of only 3 mm × 3 mm × 0.7 mm, which is beneficial for the miniaturization and integration of AMs. This work effectively expands the application of metasurfaces in the field of quantum precision measurement, and also provides a new viewpoint for the design and development of high-sensitivity and miniaturized AMs.

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doi: 10.1186/s43074-025-00189-0

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Phase-gradient metasurface enables atomic spin chirality detection for elliptically polarized laser-pumped atomic magnetometer

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doi: 10.1186/s43074-025-00189-0

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Phase-gradient metasurface enables atomic spin chirality detection for elliptically polarized laser-pumped atomic magnetometer

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