Heading Error Suppression in Alkali-Metal-Vapor Magnetometry Using an Applied Rotating RF Field

Abstract

Scalar alkali-metal magnetometers suffer heading errors in geomagnetic fields. Previous attempts to correct these errors due to the orientation of the sensor with respect to the field involve oscillating applied RF fields to suppress heading error due to non-linear Zeeman splitting. This paper uses rotating RF fields to suppress heading error due to non-linear Zeeman splitting, as well as heading error due to hyperfine splitting.