Patent ID: 8493066

Claim:
A magnetometer for detecting a magnetic field of strength B, said magnetometer comprising: a photon emitter for projecting an emitted light beam substantially parallel to the magnetic field and having wavelength λ; a first polarizer for pre-selecting said emitted light beam as a pre-selection beam; a prism composed of a Faraday medium having Verdet value V through which said pre-selection beam passes and exits from an interface surface at incident angle θ 0 to normal of said surface into a secondary medium as first and second circularly polarized light beams having average refraction angle θ to said normal and angular divergence δ; a second polarizer for post-selecting said emerging circularly polarized light beams as a post-selection beam; a detector for measuring an intensity distribution profile associated with said post-selection beam; and an analyzer for determining mean value of said intensity distribution profile as A w produced by said detector, and the magnetic field strength as B ≈ - 2 ⁢ ⁢ ɛ ⁢ ⁢ A w ⁢ π ⁢ ⁢ n 0 ⁢ cos ⁢ ⁢ θ V ⁢ ⁢ λ ⁢ ⁢ sin ⁢ ⁢ θ 0 in which n 0 is index of refraction of said secondary medium, and ε being amplification factor.