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IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC)

Preparation of a Micro Rubidium vapor cell and its integration in a chip-scale atomic magnetometer

Yu Ji, Jintang Shang, You‐Peng Chen, Ching‐Ping Wong

Published May 1, 2014• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Micro Rubidium vapor cell has very important research values in many fields including atomic magnetometer, atomic clock, atomic gyroscope and so on. In this study, a new method to fabricate the micro Rubidium vapor cell has been investigated and uniform wafer-level micro Rubidium vapor cells, which could be used in atomic devices, have been prepared successfully by the proposed process. First of all, the fabrication process is introduced. Then the prepared uniform wafer-level micro Rubidium vapor cell has been characterized by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Ultraviolet spectrophotometer. And the result demonstrates the existing of Rubidium and shows that the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of the micro Rubidium vapor cell is high, which suits for atomic devices as well as other applications. At last, its integration in a Chip-Scale atomic magnetometer is presented.

DOI
10.1109/ectc.2014.6897490

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Micro Rubidium vapor cell has very important research values in many fields including atomic magnetometer, atomic clock, atomic gyroscope and so on. In this study, a new method to fabricate the micro Rubidium vapor cell has been investigated and uniform wafer-level micro Rubidium vapor cells, which could be used in atomic devices, have been prepared successfully by the proposed process. First of all, the fabrication process is introduced. Then the prepared uniform wafer-level micro Rubidium vapor cell has been characterized by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Ultraviolet spectrophotometer. And the result demonstrates the existing of Rubidium and shows that the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of the micro Rubidium vapor cell is high, which suits for atomic devices as well as other applications. At last, its integration in a Chip-Scale atomic magnetometer is presented.
High sensitive atomic magnetometers play an important role in many fields including geophysical mapping, space science, nuclear magnetic resonance, health care and perimeter and remote monitoring. In this study, a novel method to fabricate the micro spherical Rubidium vapor cell has been investigated and the integration of micro spherical rubidium vapor cell in 3-axis atomic magnetometer has been demonstrated successfully. First of all, a fabrication process for micro spherical alkali vapor cells is introduced. Then the prepared uniform wafer-level micro spherical rubidium vapor cell has been characterized by Ultraviolet spectrophotometer as well as a laser frequency locking system. At last, 3-axis atomic magnetometer based on the micro spherical rubidium vapor cell has been demonstrated. Results show that micro spherical rubidium vapor cell has been fabricated successfully. Results also indicate that a 3-axis atomic magnetometer based on the micro spherical rubidium vapor cell could measure magnetic fields along three directions (BX, BYand BZ).
The paper presents a novel design for chip-scale atomic magnetometers using a micro spherical rubidium vapor cell. By modeling and calculation, it was found that compared with the traditional planar rubidium vapor cell with approximately the same internal volume and buffer gas pressure, the micro spherical rubidium vapor cell was demonstrated with improved polarization lifetime and optical length. Experiments show that chip-scale atomic magnetometers based on the micro spherical cell has a significantly improved signal to noise(S/N) and sensitivity for both85Rb and87Rb. The wafer-level micro spherical rubidium vapor cells are also of interests for applications on chip-scale atomic clocks, gyroscope, vector microwave electrometries and other quantum sensors.
In this letter, we present a novel microfabricated shaped rubidium vapor cell with 3 cm optical path length for miniaturized atomic magnetometers. The novel shaped rubidium vapor cells are manufactured by a wafer-level fabrication process, and the process consists of the following three steps sequentially: first, wet etching to form oblong shallow cavity arrays; second, anodic bonding, glass reflowing, and wet etching to obtain a glass wafer with shaped structures; third, anodic bonding and chemical reaction to obtain the wafer-level shaped rubidium vapor cells. A miniaturized atomic magnetometer using the novel shaped rubidium vapor cell is characterized in the geomagnetic environment. The performance of the novel shaped rubidium vapor cell is compared with the traditional microfabricated rubidium vapor cell of a “glass–silicon–glass” sandwich structure. Results show that the measured geomagnetic field is 47.85 μT. It is demonstrated that the dispersive signal's slope of the novel shaped rubidium vapor cell is 15 times larger than that of the traditional one. Results also indicate that the miniaturized atomic magnetometer working in the geomagnetic environment has a magnetic noise spectral density of 3.5 pT/Hz1/2from 1 to 2 Hz.
Wafer-level integration of micro heater on an alkali vapor cell for chip-scale SERF magnetometers is presented. In order to obtain a suitable resistivity, polysilicon and aluminum are mixed as the target material. Magnetron sputtering is adopted to fabricate the heater on the surface of the alkali vapor cell. Various voltages are applied to the heater, of which the temperatures are measured by thermal sensitive sensors. Spin exchange relaxation free (SERF) atomic magnetometer with the heater integrated on the alkali vapor cell is characterized. Results show that the micro heater is successfully integrated on the alkali vapor cell. With the integrated heater, the rubidium vapor cell is heated up to 120°C by a 445kHz AC current. The sensitivity of the SERF magnetometer is 6.3pT/Hz1/2. Results also indicate that it provides an effective and low-cost solution for the miniaturization of atomic magnetometers.
The importance of the atomic magnetometer hasalready been widely recognized and it is an emergency to come up with portable atomic magnetometers with highperformance. The scalar magnetometer with its uniqueproperty of merely sensitive to the magnitude but relativelyinsensitive to the direction of the ambient magnetic field. This work presents a novel solution which combines two types of scalar atomic magnetometers, namely the MX magnetometer and the MZ magnetometer. A micro-fabricated rubidium vapor cell, which is the key component in an atomic magnetometer, was integrated in the prototype to enable the reduction of its volume. With a brief review of the theoretical model of scalar atomic magnetometers, the principle is demonstrated. Both thescheme of the magnetometer and the fabrication process of the vapor cell are illustrated. The results of the dispersive signals were measured and are presented. The magnetic field noise spectrum of both the MX and MZ magnetometers are also presented in this work, which shows the sensitivities are in the order of 100pT/Hz1/2.
We report a novel methodology for fabrication of vapor cells for chip-scale atomic clocks (CSAC) using wafer-scale micromachining processes. Alkali metals are enclosed in a chemically inert wax to preform alkali metal-wax micropackets, keeping the alkali metals from reacting with the ambient during the vapor cell fabrication. Apart from the high level of purity of the alkali metals in the resulting vapor cells, this method holds promise for inexpensive and flexible manufacturing of vapor cells, as well as easy handling of alkali metals used for a variety of applications other than for CSAC. The optical absorption on fabricated rubidium-87 (Rb/sup 87/) vapor cells over the D2 transitions of Rb/sup 87/ shows a contrast of more than 65%, important to the frequency stability of CSAC.