A magnetometer system comprising: a sensor cell comprising alkali metal vapor, a first measurement zone, and a second measurement zone arranged at opposite ends of the sensor cell, each of the first and second measurement zones (460, 462) corresponding to a three-dimensional spatial region within the sensor cell; a laser system (452, 454) configured to provide a circularly-polarized optical pump beam through the sensor cell in a pulsed manner to facilitate precession of the alkali metal vapor in the first and second measurement zones (460, 462) in response to an external magnetic field and to provide a linearly-polarized optical probe beam through the sensor cell in a pulsed manner based on a precession frequency of the alkali metal vapor; a detection system (468, 486, 470) configured to detect the precession of the alkali metal vapor in response to a first detection beam and a second detection beam corresponding to the linearly-polarized optical probe beam exiting the sensor cell through each of the respective measurement zones (460, 462), respectively, and to calculate an amplitude and direction of the external magnetic field based on the detected precession of the alkali metal vapor, the detection system comprising a first optical detector and a second optical detector configured to detect precession of the alkali metal vapor, the detection system further comprising a timing controller configured to generate a timing signal based on the detected precession of the alkali metal vapor and to control timing of application of pulses associated with the circularly-polarized optical pump beam and to control timing of application of pulses associated with the linearly-polarized optical probe beam based on the timing signal to track changes in the amplitude and/or direction of the external magnetic field; and a beamsplitter configured to split the first detection beam into a first portion of the first detection beam and a second portion of the first detection beam, the beamsplitter being further configured to provide the first portion of the first detection beam to the second optical detector through the second measurement zone and to provide the second portion of the first detection beam to the first optical detector. a sensor cell comprising alkali metal vapor, a first measurement zone, and a second measurement zone arranged at opposite ends of the sensor cell, each of the first and second measurement zones (460, 462) corresponding to a three-dimensional spatial region within the sensor cell; a laser system (452, 454) configured to provide a circularly-polarized optical pump beam through the sensor cell in a pulsed manner to facilitate precession of the alkali metal vapor in the first and second measurement zones (460, 462) in response to an external magnetic field and to provide a linearly-polarized optical probe beam through the sensor cell in a pulsed manner based on a precession frequency of the alkali metal vapor; a detection system (468, 486, 470) configured to detect the precession of the alkali metal vapor in response to a first detection beam and a second detection beam corresponding to the linearly-polarized optical probe beam exiting the sensor cell through each of the respective measurement zones (460, 462), respectively, and to calculate an amplitude and direction of the external magnetic field based on the detected precession of the alkali metal vapor, the detection system comprising a first optical detector and a second optical detector configured to detect precession of the alkali metal vapor, the detection system further comprising a timing controller configured to generate a timing signal based on the detected precession of the alkali metal vapor and to control timing of application of pulses associated with the circularly-polarized optical pump beam and to control timing of application of pulses associated with the linearly-polarized optical probe beam based on the timing signal to track changes in the amplitude and/or direction of the external magnetic field; and a beamsplitter configured to split the first detection beam into a first portion of the first detection beam and a second portion of the first detection beam, the beamsplitter being further configured to provide the first portion of the first detection beam to the second optical detector through the second measurement zone and to provide the second portion of the first detection beam to the first optical detector.