Polarization measurement of Cs using the pump laser beam

Abstract: In the optical pumping systems based on the pump-probe arrangement, the spin polarization of the atoms is generally monitored utilizing the probe laser beam, in which way an extra perturbation must be introduced and thus affects the normal operation of the sensors. By investigating the absorption rate of the circularly polarized pump laser, here we demonstrate the feasibility of extracting the electron-spin polarization from the transmitted pump laser intensity. We experimentally validate the method in a spin-exchange relaxation free (SERF) magnetometer and the results are in excellent agreement with the theory. The scheme operates in a silent mode and features a real-time observation. We also study the corresponding magnetic field response of the SERF magnetometer and a term arising from the diffusion effects has been added to the original model to explain the discrepancy of the response.