Ultra-broadband and sensitive cavity optomechanical magnetometry

Abstract: Magnetostrictive optomechanical cavities provide a new optically-readout approach to room temperature magnetometry. Here we report ultrasensitive and ultrahigh bandwidth cavity optomechanical magnetometers constructed by embedding a grain of the magnetostrictive material Terfenol-D within a high quality (Q) optical microcavity on a silicon chip. By engineering their physical structure, we achieve a peak sensitivity of 26 pT/Hz^1/2 comparable to the best cryogenic microscale magnetometers, along with a 3~dB bandwidth as high as 11.3 MHz. Two classes of magnetic response are observed, which we postulate arise from the crystallinity of the Terfenol-D. This allows single- and poly-crystalline grains to be distinguished at the level of a single particle. Our results may enable applications such as lab-on-chip nuclear magnetic spectroscopy and magnetic navigation.