Micro-machined deep silicon atomic vapor cells

Abstract

Using a simple and cost-effective water jet process, silicon etch depth limitations are overcome to realize a $6$mm deep atomic vapor cell. While the minimum silicon feature size was limited to a $1.5$mm width in these first generation vapor cells, we successfully demonstrate a two-chamber geometry by including a $\sim$25~mm meandering channel between the alkali pill chamber and main interrogation chamber. We evaluate the impact of the channel conductance on the introduction of alkali vapor density during the pill activation process, and mitigate glass damage and pill contamination near the main chamber. Finally, we highlight the improved signal achievable in the $6$mm silicon cell compared to standard $2$mm path length silicon vapor cells.

arXiv comment4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Absolute absorption on the rubidium D lines: comparison between theory and experiment
• High-performance, compact optical standard
• Laser cooling in a chip-scale platform
• Invited Review: Micro-fabricated components for cold atom sensors
• Additively manufactured ultra-high vacuum chamber below $10^{-10}$ mbar

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Invited Review: Micro-fabricated components for cold atom sensors
• Optical pumping enhancement of a free-induction-decay magnetometer
• Functionalized mm-scale vapor cells for alkali-metal spectroscopy and magnetometry
• Alignment-based optically pumped magnetometer using a buffer gas cell
• Free-induction-decay magnetic field imaging with a microfabricated Cs vapor cell