Projects Overview

As part of a new joint international research project, optically-pumped alkali magnetometers (OPMs) shall be further developed as highly sensitive detectors. OPMs are essentially small laser spectrometers in which the otherwise disturbing magnetic field dependence of the absorption spectrum of specially prepared alkali atoms is used to detect and measure an external magnetic field. Such sensors are part of the highly topical field of "quantum technologies of the second generation", in which photonic or atomic quantum states are to be used (among other things) for new sensor concepts. The OPMs enable the measurement of extremely weak magnetic fields with comparably low effort. This opens up a wide range of applications - the most prominent example is the magnetometric monitoring of brain waves.