Applied Physics Letters

Microfabricated alkali vapor cell with anti-relaxation wall coating

Rahel Straessle, Matthieu Pellaton, C. Affolderbach, Yves Pétremand, D. Briand, G. Mileti, Nico F. de Rooij

Published Jul 28, 2014• 71 citations

Abstract

We present a microfabricated alkali vapor cell equipped with an anti-relaxation wall coating. The anti-relaxation coating used is octadecyltrichlorosilane and the cell was sealed by thin-film indium-bonding at a low temperature of 140 °C. The cell body is made of silicon and Pyrex and features a double-chamber design. Depolarizing properties due to liquid Rb droplets are avoided by confining the Rb droplets to one chamber only. Optical and microwave spectroscopy performed on this wall-coated cell are used to evaluate the cell's relaxation properties and a potential gas contamination. Double-resonance signals obtained from the cell show an intrinsic linewidth that is significantly lower than the linewidth that would be expected in case the cell had no wall coating but only contained a buffer-gas contamination on the level measured by optical spectroscopy. Combined with further experimental evidence this proves the presence of a working anti-relaxation wall coating in the cell. Such cells are of interest for applications in miniature atomic clocks, magnetometers, and other quantum sensors.

DOI: 10.1063/1.4891248

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