Electron Precession versus Proton Precession in a Magnetometer?

[xerxes73]

Hello,

Why is it that electron precession is not used in addition to proton precession in a proton precession magnetometer? It seems to me that when the frequencies are emitted as the protons precess that the electrons would do precessing at the same time and provide a secondary frequency to observe. Observing a second frequency would provide a better signal to noise for processing and perhaps may decay faster or slower providing a signal that is better at different times or different situations. I imagine there is a fundamental reason why this is not done but I can't find anything on the web that talks to this.

Thanks,
Xerxes73

 

[azntoon]

The main reason why electron precession is not used in addition to proton precession in a proton precession magnetometer is because electron precession does not produce a significantly strong enough signal to be detected. The magnetic moments of electrons are about 1000 times weaker than those of protons, so the signal they produce is much smaller and harder to detect. Additionally, the thermal motion of electrons is often greater than the precession frequency, which further diminishes the signal strength.