Accurately measuring the atomic state of a two-level system is of high importance in the field of atomic physics, from atomic clocks to matter-wave interferometry. One of the biggest sources of shot to shot noise in such a measurement comes from a change in the number of atoms within the atomic ensemble.

We show a sequence used by us to accurately normalized a measurement relative to the total atomic number within the ensemble. We also demonstrate how this sequence improves the measured coherence time in simple atomic manipulations such as a Ramsey experiment.