Investigation of the Noise Characteristics of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser with a Rhomboidal Oxide Current Aperture for Use in a Cs-Based Compact Atomic Magnetometer

Abstract—The possibility of using vertical-emitting lasers with intracavity contacts (IC-VCSEL) and a rhomboidal oxide current aperture for creating a non-zero magnetic field optically pumped atomic magnetometers (OPM) with a 133Cs vapor cell for magnetoencephalographic (MEG) systems were demonstrated. Relative intensity noise (RIN) and polarization resolved RIN of the IC-VCSEL in the 895 nm range with different mirror losses (linewidth) in the frequency range from 1Hz to 100 kHz were experimentally investigated. Lasers with low mirror loss (narrow linewidth) have polarization resolved RIN comparable to amplitude noise. For IC-VCSEL with an output optical power of 0.8 mW and a linewidth of 55 MHz, the noise level measured is 148 dB/Hz in 1 Hz bandwidth at 40 kHz frequency. The ultimate sensitivity of OPM based on two-beam MZ-scheme with studied VCSELs was estimated as 11 fT/ √(Hz) .