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arXiv:2512.20690

Applications of silicon carbide as window materials in atomic cells and atomic devices

Z. -P. Xie, C. -P. Hao, D. Sheng

Published Dec 23, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

Atomic cells made by anodically bonding silicon and borosilicate glasses are widely used in atomic devices. One inherent problem in these cells is that the silicon material blocks beams with wavelengths shorter than 1000 nm, which limits available optical accesses when alkali metal atoms are involved. In this work, we investigate the possibility of the silicon carbide material as an alternative of silicon materials in fabricating anodically bonded cells. We demonstrate that the optical, thermal and mechanical properties of silicon carbide help to improve the performance of atomic devices in certain applications.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2512.20690

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Atomic cells made by anodically bonding silicon and borosilicate glasses are widely used in atomic devices. One inherent problem in these cells is that the silicon material blocks beams with wavelengths shorter than 1000 nm, which limits available optical accesses when alkali metal atoms are involved. In this work, we investigate the possibility of the silicon carbide material as an alternative of silicon materials in fabricating anodically bonded cells. We demonstrate that the optical, thermal and mechanical properties of silicon carbide help to improve the performance of atomic devices in certain applications.
Laser spectroscopy of atoms confined in vapor cells can be strongly affected by the presence of background gases. A significant source of vacuum contamination is the permeation of gases such as helium (He) through the walls of the cell. Aluminosilicate glass (ASG) is a material with a helium permeation rate that is many orders of magnitude lower than borosilicate glass, which is commonly used for cell fabrication. We have identified a suitable source of ASG that is fabricated in wafer form and can be anodically bonded to silicon. We have fabricated chip-scale alkali vapor cells using this glass for the windows and we have measured the helium permeation rate using the pressure shift of the hyperfine clock transition. We demonstrate micro fabricated cells with He permeation rates at least three orders of magnitude lower than that of cells made with borosilicate glass at room temperature. Such cells may be useful in compact vapor-cell atomic clocks and as a micro fabricated platform suitable for the generation of cold atom samples.
Atom chips [1] are an efficient tool for trapping, cooling and manipulating cold atoms, which could open the way to a new generation of compact atomic sensors addressing space applications. This is in particular due to the fact that they can achieve strong magnetic field gradients near the chip surface, hence strong atomic confinement at moderate electrical power. However, this advantage usually comes at the price of reducing the optical access to the atoms, which are confined very close to the chip surface. We will report at the conference experimental investigations showing how these limits could be pushed farther by using an atom chip made of a gold microcircuit deposited on a single-crystal Silicon Carbide (SiC) substrate [2]. With a band gap energy value of about 3.2 eV at room temperature, the latter material is transparent at 780nm, potentially restoring quasi full optical access to the atoms. Moreover, it combines a very high electrical resistivity with a very high thermal conductivity, making it a good candidate for supporting wires with large currents without the need of any additional electrical insulation layer [3].
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We demonstrate the possibility of trapping about one hundred million rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap with several of the beams passing through a transparent atom chip mounted on a vacuum cell wall. The chip is made of a gold microcircuit deposited on a silicon carbide substrate, with favorable thermal conductivity. We show how a retro-reflected configuration can efficiently address the chip birefringence issues, allowing atom trapping at arbitrary distances from the chip. We also demonstrate detection through the chip, granting a large numerical aperture. This configuration is compared to other atom chip devices, and some possible applications are discussed.
We investigate some properties of an atom chip made of a gold microcircuit deposited on a transparent silicon carbide substrate. A favorable thermal behavior is observed in the presence of electrical current, twice as good as a silicon counterpart. We obtain one hundred million rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap with several of the beams passing through the chip. We point out the importance of coating of the chip against reflection to avoid a temperature-dependent Fabry-Perot effect. We finally discuss detection through the chip, potentially granting large numerical apertures, as well as some other potential applications.