This award, an Industry-University Collaborative Project between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and scientists and engineers at Northrop-Grumman Corporation, demonstrates a new type of nuclear magnetic resonance using noble-gas nuclei. The essential innovation is to use an integrated atomic magnetometer to get the best signal-to-noise ratio, while greatly suppressing potential errors introduced by the magnetometer. The resonator is of fundamental interest for searches for spin-dependent symmetry violation tests, and of practical interest in improving the state-of-the-art in NMR gyroscopes. The key to the new approach is the concept of synchronous spin-exchange optical pumping, wherein the magnetometer atoms and the nuclei are made to precess at the same frequency. Estimates of technical noise indicate the system has a potential frequency noise level of better than 1 nHz/ Hz, with fundamental limits that are much better. The oscillator will be used to set new stringent limits on the potential couplings of potential dark matter candidates to nuclei. The resonator will also be evaluated for use as a precision NMR gyro. While the developments here represent a substantially new approach to NMR oscillators, the Industry-University collaboration will allow industrial expertise with conventional NMR oscillator technology to be leveraged for accelerated development.
In addition to the normal academic research training of undergraduate and graduate students, the project provides substantive exposure of students to industrial scientists and engineers working in an R&D environment. Students benefit from industrial expertise in areas such as electronics, magnetic field, and thermal design. The work being pursued has both fundamental and practical applications and the nuclear magnetic resonator will be evaluated in particular for potential applications to navigation
