Yb Magnetometer

The group I am working with is designing building and testing a Yb atomic magnetometer, and currently estimating performances for their atomic magnetometer. These atomic magnetometers can be used to precisely measure magnetic vector gradients within a volume of space. We ran our Yb magnetometer experiment and observed some unexplained structures form our fluorescence images. We theorized that our polarized laser field is off axis from our applied magnetic field or there are external magnetic fields coming from different axis that are interacting with our Yb atom. Using a three-axis probe magnetometer we measured the local magnetic field around five sides of our cube, where our atoms are located. From these measurements we concluded there is a local source of magnetic field present which could have cause perturbations during our experiment. These external magnetic fields are believed to be coming from our Zeeman slower system. We decided to assemble 4 4.5x4.5” square Helmholtz coils, one 10” square coil, and one solenoid coil to have local control/cancel the magnetic field around our cube.