A rubidium M x -magnetometer for measurements on solid state spins

The detection of environmental magnetic fields is well established by optically pumped atomic magnetometers. Another focus of magnetometry can be the research on magnetic or spin-active solid-state samples. Here we introduce a simple and compact design of a rubidium-based M magnetometer, which allows for hosting solid-state samples. The optical, mechanical, and electrical design is reported, as well as simple measurements which introduce the ground-state spin-relaxation time, the signal-to-noise ratio of a measurement, and subsequently the overall sensitivity of the magnetometer. The magnetometer is optimized for the most sensitive operation with respect to laser power and magnetic field excitation at the Larmor frequency.