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European Frequency and Time Forum

Demonstration of optical pumping using a micro-fabricated Rb dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamp

Songbai Kang, Vinu Venkatraman, C. Affolderbach, Herbert R. Shea, G. Mileti

Published Jun 1, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Recently, a low-power, mm-scale (~0.3 cm3) Rb dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamp was demonstrated, in view of the development of a chip-scale atomic clock based on the traditional double-resonance (DR) interrogation scheme. Here, we report on the demonstration of optical pumping in a micro-fabricated Rb vapor cell (~0.3 cm3), using such a DBD Rb lamp as a pump light source. As a first step, we demonstrate Zeeman optical pumping in the Mz magnetometer configuration and observe the DR error signals. Comparative studies between DBD lamp and glass-blown (GB) lamp on the intensity noise and the DR error signals were performed. These results show that the performances of DBD lamp are comparable to those of a conventional glass-blown lamp, which indicates a high potential of the DBD lamp for the development of miniature atomic clocks, magnetometers and quantum sensors.

DOI
10.1109/eftf.2014.7331460

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Recently, a low-power, mm-scale (~0.3 cm3) Rb dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamp was demonstrated, in view of the development of a chip-scale atomic clock based on the traditional double-resonance (DR) interrogation scheme. Here, we report on the demonstration of optical pumping in a micro-fabricated Rb vapor cell (~0.3 cm3), using such a DBD Rb lamp as a pump light source. As a first step, we demonstrate Zeeman optical pumping in the Mz magnetometer configuration and observe the DR error signals. Comparative studies between DBD lamp and glass-blown (GB) lamp on the intensity noise and the DR error signals were performed. These results show that the performances of DBD lamp are comparable to those of a conventional glass-blown lamp, which indicates a high potential of the DBD lamp for the development of miniature atomic clocks, magnetometers and quantum sensors.
Miniature (<few cm3) vapor-cell based devices using optical pumping of alkali atoms, such as atomic clocks and magnetometers, today mostly employ vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers as pump light sources. Here, we report on the demonstration of optical pumping in a microfabricated alkali vapor resonance cell using (1) a microfabricated Rb discharge lamp light source, as well as (2) a conventional glass-blown Rb discharge lamp. The microfabricated Rb lamp cell is a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) light source, having the same inner cell volume of around 40 mm3 as that of the resonance cell, both filled with suitable buffer gases. A miniature (∼2 cm3 volume) test setup based on the Mz magnetometer interrogation technique was used for observation of optical-radiofrequency double-resonance signals, proving the suitability of the microfabricated discharge lamp to introduce efficient optical pumping. The pumping ability of this light source was found to be comparable to or even better than that of a conventional glass-blown lamp. The reported results indicate that the micro-fabricated DBD discharge lamp has a high potential for the development of a new class of miniature atomic clocks, magnetometers, and quantum sensors.
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We present first results on a laser-pumped, double resonance (DR) Rubidium atomic clock, based on micro-fabricated Rb vapour cells. The study aims towards a miniature atomic clock based on DR, using a low-power laser as pump light source and a miniaturized microwave coupling structure (that will replace the bulky microwave cavity employed in today's much bigger Rb clocks). Good signal amplitude, low background light level, and no need for GHz laser modulation are among the advantages of this approach.
We report on the micro-fabrication and characterization of a chip-scale plasma light source based on a Rubidium (Rb) vapor cell. The Rb plasma light source is intended for use as an integrated optical pump-light source in miniature double-resonance Rb atomic clocks. The RF plasma is capacitively coupled using external electrodes, and the light source is impedance matched to the source for frequencies between 1 and 36 MHz. Rb vapor cells have been previously developed as reference cells for atomic clocks but not as light sources. This is the first reported Rb plasma emitted from a chip-scale device. Stable light emission is observed for over 18 days.
We present our microwave spectroscopic studies on laser-microwave double-resonance (DR) signals obtained from a micro-fabricated Rb vapor cell.This study focuses on the characteristics and systematic shifts of the ground-state 'clock transition' in 87 Rb (|F g = 1, m F = 0 →| F g = 2, m F = 0 ) used in Rb atomic clocks, and represents a first step toward a miniature atomic clock based on the DR scheme.A short-term clock instability below 2 × 10 11 τ -1/2 is demonstrated, staying below 10 -11 up to τ = 10 4 s.
A compact magnetron-type microwave cavity has previously been developed for a high performance Rb atomic clock based on conventional continuous-wave double-resonance (DR) interrogation. This magnetron-type cavity shows a homogenous microwave field distribution while having a cavity volume of only 35 cm3. So it is interesting for realizing a high performance Rb cell clock based on pulsed optical pumping (POP) technique with a reduced physics package size. In this proceeding we report on the evaluation of pulsed optical pumping with our magnetron-type cavity. Using the pulsed technique and optical detection, high-contrast Ramsey fringes were observed. The central fringe of the Ramsey signal has a linewidth of 160 Hz and contrast of 35%. Under these conditions, the shot-noise limit is estimated at a level around 2×10-14τ-1/2which shows the great potential of a POP clock based on the compact magnetron-type cavity. The Rabi oscillation result also indicates an acceptable uniform field distribution inside the cavity for a high-performance POP clock. Some optimizations of pumping and detection power for improving the contrast are also presented.