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arXiv · 2109.13555

Satellite-assisted laser magnetometry with mesospheric sodium

Tong Dang·Emmanuel Klinger·Felipe Pedreros Bustos·Arne Wickenbrock·Ronald Holzlöhner·Dmitry Budker
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Abstract

Magnetic field sensing provides crucial insights into various geophysical phenomena such as atmospheric currents, crustal magnetism, and oceanic circulation. In this paper, a method for remote detection of magnetic fields using mesospheric sodium with an assisting satellite is proposed. Sodium atoms in the mesosphere are optically pumped with a ground-based laser beam. A satellite-borne detector is used to measure magneto-optical rotation of the polarization of a probe laser beam by the sodium atoms. This sensitive magnetometry method benefits from direct detection of laser photons and complements existing space- and aircraft-borne techniques by probing magnetic fields at upper-atmospheric altitudes inaccessible to those.

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Tong Dang, Emmanuel Klinger, Felipe Pedreros Bustos, Arne Wickenbrock, Ronald Holzlöhner, Dmitry Budker. 2021-09-28. Satellite-assisted laser magnetometry with mesospheric sodium. https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.13555

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