Long-Term Stability of Self-Oscillating Rubidium Magnetometers

Abstract

Simultaneous magnetic total field measurements have been obtained over a span of seventeen months with a proton magnetometer and with a series of self-oscillating single-cell rubidium magnetometers. Their comparison indicates variation in frequency response of the rubidium magnetometers to a fixed absolute magnetic field. These variations can be as much as 7γ between different sensors, can be 6γ when a sensor is retuned, and can be time-variable over a 2γ range in the case of an undisturbed sensor. However, approximately two-thirds of the absolute field values computed from a mean of calibration factors, redermined each week, lie within ±0.2γ of the “true” value.