This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes to develop a novel laser pumped helium 4 magnetometer for observation of geomagnetic fields and magnetic geophysical exploration. The magnetometer employs a dual mode of operation to measure both the magnitude and direction of the geomagnetic field. The key technical component is a patented tunable diode laser (TDL) pumping process developed by Polatomic for NASA. TDL pumping permits use of a single helium cell to measure scalar fields with a projected resolution of 0.1 pT/¬Hz, an order of magnitude greater than conventional resonance magnetometers. The small sensor and large resonance signals allows extraction of three-axis vector information. In Phase I Polatomic, Inc., proposes to define a concept for a portable Geomagnetic Vector Scalar (GVS) magnetometer including the sensor and electronics modules for high resolution scalar mode and three-axis vector mode. They will establish the feasibility of the selected GVS design concept and prepare a plan for designing, fabricating and demonstrating a breadboard GVS instrument in Phase II.
