The Effects of Phase Retardation of Wave Plate on Cesium Magnetometer Sensitivity

Abstract

The paper described a new magnetometer with cesium vapor in the spin-exchange-relaxation-free (SERF) regime. The variation behavior of phase retardation of the /4 wave plate (in the probing beam direction of this magnetometer) with temperature was introduced, which directly affected the sensitivity of the magnetometer. A detail theoretical analysis was expressed to give the temperature properties of a quartz wave plate. The retardation reduced 0.84 when the temperature increased 1°C for the wave plate with thickness of 2.24 mm and wavelength of 852 nm. According to the various phase retardations of wave plate in different temperatures, the relative intensity of the detection signal in this magnetometer was proposed.