Synchronous coherent population trapping for remote magnetic field measurement

We demonstrate a new mechanism, suitable for performing remote earth field measurement using synchronous modulation of two laser fields, which are two-photon resonant with the sodium atom’s hyperfine ground states. This mechanism relies on coherent population trapping (CPT), and thus, called the synchronous CPT scheme. We have measured the magnetic resonances in fluorescence from a sodium cell to demonstrate suitability of this scheme for remote magnetometry. A strong magnetic resonance with its dip corresponding to the Larmor frequency is produced in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. To estimate the optimal duty cycle of light modulation for attaining high performance, we measured the amplitudes and linewidths of the magnetic resonance as a function of the duty cycle, by keeping the peak intensity in CPT fields constant.