Patent ID: 7521928

Claim:
An atomic magnetometer that detects and represents a first magnetic field originating within a sample volume, the magnetometer comprising: a sensing cell sensitive to high intensity magnetic fields comprising an alkali metal vapor, the sensing cell being adjacent to a sample volume including a component generating a first magnetic field, wherein the sensing cell is exposed to: the first magnetic field; and a background magnetic field to tune and maintain magnetometer operation at high frequency; a polarizing transmitter that increases a magnetic polarization of the alkali metal vapor, wherein the magnetic polarization of the alkali metal vapor includes a contribution from the first magnetic field; a magnetizer that imposes the background and a second magnetic field on a volume of space comprising the sensing cell; a probing interrogator that probes the magnetic polarization of the alkali metal vapor, the interrogator providing an output from the alkali metal vapor that includes characteristics related to the first magnetic field; and a measuring module that receives the output, determines the characteristics of the first magnetic field, and provides a representation of the first magnetic field.