In this paper an analysis of remote atmospheric magnetometry concepts, based on using molecular oxygen as the paramagnetic species, is presented. The objective is to use these concepts as possible mechanisms for the detection of underwater and underground objects. The formulation is based on the coupled Maxwell-density matrix system of equations. We use these coupled equations to describe the magnetization of a paramagnetic species in the presence of an intense modulated laser pulse and ambient magnetic field. The O2 magnetic dipole transition line that is considered is the b1 Sigma g+ - X3 Sigma g- transition band of oxygen near 762 nm. A high-intensity, repetition rate, polarized titanium-doped sapphire laser is considered for the pump. The nonlinear formulation is used to investigate magnetic anomaly detection mechanisms using (i) wakefield polarization rotation and, (ii) polarization changes in resonance fluorescence emission (Hanle effect). The major challenges for these related approaches is the collisional dephasing of the atmospheric oxygen transitions and the strength of the magnetic dipole moment.
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