Comprehensive analysis of the effects of magnetic field gradient on the performance of the SERF co-magnetometer

The magnetic field gradient affects the improvement of sensitivity and magnetic field suppression ability of the spin-exchange relaxation-free co-magnetometer. This paper proposes a response model of a co-magnetometer considering magnetic field gradient based on state-space method. The effects of transverse and longitudinal magnetic field gradients on the system's scale factor, bandwidth and magnetic field response are analyzed. The analysis shows that transverse gradient affects the whole frequency band of system response, including steady-state and dynamic performance, while longitudinal gradient only affects steady-state response. With the increase of the gradient, the effect becomes more significant. The test results are in agreement with the theory, proving the accuracy of the theoretical analysis. The rotational sensitivity at 1 Hz decreases from 6.51 x10-6 degrees/s/Hz1/2 to 5.05x10-5 degrees/s/Hz1/2 in the presence of a magnetic field gradient of -40 nT/cm, so the effect of the magnetic field gradient is critical. This work provides an accurate model for evaluating the effects of magnetic field gradients and provides a method for suppressing gradients using gradient coils, which are important for improving the sensitivity and accuracy of co-magnetometers.