Miniature atomic scalar magnetometer for space based on the rubidium isotope Rb.

A miniature atomic scalar magnetometer based on the rubidium isotope Rb was developed for operation in space. The instrument design implements both and mode operation and leverages a novel microelectromechanical system (MEMS) fabricated vapor cell and a custom silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit. The vapor cell has a volume of only 1 mm so that it can be efficiently heated to its operating temperature by a specially designed, low-magnetic-field-generating resistive heater implemented in multiple metal layers of the transparent sapphire substrate of the SOS-CMOS chips.