We propose and experimentally investigate a coherent population trapping state based magnetometer prototype with87 Rb atoms.Through modulating Zeeman sublevels with an ac magnetic field,not only a phase sensitive detection scheme suitable for miniature magnetometer is realized,but also the detection resolution of magnetic field intensity could be improved by a factor of two.Our study result indicates that it is a promising low power consumption miniature sensitive low magnetic field sensor offering spatially resolved measurement at the sub-millimetre level.