The detection of environmental magnetic fields is well established by optically pumped atomic magnetometers. Another focus of magnetometry can be the research on magnetic or spin-active solid-state samples. Here we introduce a simple and compact design of a rubidium-based M_x-magnetometer, which allows for hosting solid-state samples. The optical, mechanical and electrical design is reported, as well as simple measurements which introduce the ground-state spin-relaxation time, the

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... e ratio of a measurement, and subsequently the overall sensitivity of the magnetometer. The magnetometer is optimized for the most sensitive operation with respect to laser power and magnetic field excitation at the Larmor frequency.