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arXiv:1707.06026 · Applied Optics

High vacuum compatible fiber feedthrough for hot alkali vapor cells

Daniel Weller, Arzu Yilmaz, Harald Kübler, Robert Löw

Published Feb 8, 2017• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate a method to produce vacuum-tight, metal-free, bakeable, and alkali-compatible feedthroughs for optical fibers. The manufacturing process mainly relies on encasing fibers made of fused silica with glass materials with lower melting points by heating. We analyze the vacuum and optical performance of the devices by various methods such as helium leak checks and review several spectroscopic schemes, including electromagnetically induced transparency involving Rydberg states.

DOI
10.1364/ao.56.001546

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We demonstrate a method to produce vacuum-tight, metal-free, bakeable, and alkali-compatible feedthroughs for optical fibers. The manufacturing process mainly relies on encasing fibers made of fused silica with glass materials with lower melting points by heating. We analyze the vacuum and optical performance of the devices by various methods such as helium leak checks and review several spectroscopic schemes, including electromagnetically induced transparency involving Rydberg states.
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We demonstrate the use of an anodic bonding technique for building a vacuum tight vapor cell for the use of Rydberg spectroscopy of alkali atoms with thin film electrodes on the inside of the cell. The cell is fabricated by simultaneous triple stack glass-to-glass anodic bonding at 300 °C. This glue-free, low temperature sealing technique provides the opportunity to include thin film electric feedthroughs. The pressure broadening is only limited by the vapor pressure of rubidium and the lifetime is at least four months with operating temperatures up to 230 °C.
We present an inexpensive, simple, and robust method of making an optical fiber feedthrough for ultrahigh vacuum UHV systems. This system is particularly devoted for cold atom experiments. A drilled standard UHV DN16CF flange allows us to pass a fiber inside an UHV chamber. An optical ultraviolet UV curing adhesive is simultaneously used for holding the fiber through the flange and as a vacuum sealant. A vacuum down to 10−9 mbar is currently observed, while the optical insertion loss of the feedthrough is monitored and does not exceed 0.01 dB. In most of light-matter interaction experiments, laser light must pass through ultrahigh vacuum chambers. Although light beams can be propagated in free space through glass view-ports, more and more recent cold atom experiments use optical fibers to carry or collect light to or from a well defined area. This covers a wide variety of experiments such as atom-surface interactions or atomic samples guided inside hollow-core fibers. This kind of experiments requires continuous fibers through the vacuumatmosphere interface. A feedthrough for optical fiber based on a Teflon ferrule has been successfully demonstrated. However, this technique has several drawbacks. It requires a very high drilling precision, and as a consequence, must be accurately designed for a specific fiber diameter. As the ferrule must avoid any leaks, a constraint is applied to the fiber, which can induce birefringence and excess losses. Furthermore, as the polymer coating of the fiber ages under mechanical constraints, leaks might appear with time. We have developed a simple method to realize an optical fiber feedthrough completely free of those problems. It is based on a commercially available UV curing adhesive. The realization is easy and does not require accurate mechanical pieces. A multiple-fiber configuration is also achievable.
This paper describes the progress made in developing wafer-scale fabrication process of alkali vapor cells for chip-scale atomic devices such as Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) clocks, optical frequency standards and Rydberg-atom-based sensors. The wafer level fabrication process uses anodic bonding and introduces alkali atoms by chemical reactions of Alkali Chloride with Barium Azide. This method is compatible to make cells with a wide range of buffer gas species and pressures, including evacuated cells. We improve the yield of the cells to above 50%. We will show the residual gas pressures for evacuated cells are mostly consistent with zero within the resolution of the saturation absorption spectroscopy measurement. The temperature coefficients for the CPT spectroscopy are improved with Ar-N2 mixture buffer gas compared with only N2 buffer gas.