Diagram of Proposed Laser Magnetometer (IMAGE)

University of California - Berkeley

Diagram of Proposed Laser Magnetometer

Caption

To measure the Earth's magnetic field, an orange laser beam is directed at a layer of sodium 90 kilometers above the Earth. The beam is pulsed at a rate determined by the local magnetic field in order to excite spin polarization of the sodium atoms. The fluorescent emission from the sodium, which depends on the spin polarization, is detected by a ground-based telescope and analyzed to determine the strength of the magnetic field.

Credit

Dmitry Budker lab/UC Berkeley

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