Active stabilization of terrestrial magnetic field with potassium atomic magnetometer.

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces a magnetically quiet environment where the magnetic-field noise is actively suppressed using an optically pumped potassium magnetometer. In a large dynamic range of Earth's magnetic fields, the magnetic-resonance signals of potassium are completely separated in frequency, and we experimentally demonstrate that one of them could be used to measure and compensate magnetic-field noise. The magnetic-field noise floor after stabilization is ∼100 fT/Hz under a bias field ranging from 20 to 100 µT. This method could be useful for fundamental-physics experiments and biomedical sciences where a large dynamic range of quiet magnetic fields is needed.