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Chinese Physics B

Atomic magnetometer with microfabricated vapor cells based on coherent population trapping*

Xiaojie Li, Yuejiang Shi, Hongbo Xue, Yong Ruan, Yanying Feng

Published Oct 20, 2020• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An atomic magnetometer based on coherent population trapping (CPT) resonances in microfabricated vapor cells is demonstrated. Fabricated by the micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) technology, the cells are filled with Rb and Ne at a controlled pressure. An experimental apparatus is built for characterizing properties of microfabricated vapor cells via the CPT effects. The typical CPT linewidth is measured to be about 3 kHz (1.46 kHz with approximately zero laser intensity) for the rubidium D1 line at about 90 °C. The effects of pressure, temperature and laser intensity on CPT linewidth are studied experimentally. A closed-loop atomic magnetometer is finally finished with a sensitivity of 210.5 pT/Hz1/2 at 1 Hz bandwidth. This work paves the way for developing an integrated chip-scale atomic magnetometer in the future.

DOI
10.1088/1674-1056/abc2b9

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An atomic magnetometer based on coherent population trapping (CPT) resonances in microfabricated vapor cells is demonstrated. Fabricated by the micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) technology, the cells are filled with Rb and Ne at a controlled pressure. An experimental apparatus is built for characterizing properties of microfabricated vapor cells via the CPT effects. The typical CPT linewidth is measured to be about 3 kHz (1.46 kHz with approximately zero laser intensity) for the rubidium D1 line at about 90 °C. The effects of pressure, temperature and laser intensity on CPT linewidth are studied experimentally. A closed-loop atomic magnetometer is finally finished with a sensitivity of 210.5 pT/Hz1/2 at 1 Hz bandwidth. This work paves the way for developing an integrated chip-scale atomic magnetometer in the future.
We report the fabrication of a micro vapor cell which has Rb and Ne inside with internal volumes of several millimeters, which is the key component of chip-scale atomic devices like clocks and magnetometers. The cells were filled with Ne at a controlled pressure as the buffer gas by using glass-silicon anodic bonding techniques and dispenser pills of SAES Getters. And a special two-step bonding method was taken to avoid breakdown caused by the buffer gas and to secure the quality of the bonding. We also built an optical measuring system and measured the coherent population trapping (CPT) resonance of85Rb D1 line with a linewidth below 2.0 kHz and a contrast about 1.1%. Zeeman spectrum for CPT resonance was also detected in these microcells. These results show that these vapor cells are capable to be used in atomic clocks or magnetometers.
A universal method for fabrication of miniature cells for frequency standards and quantum magnetometers containing 87Rb atoms in the atmosphere of inert gas neon based on integrated technologies is considered. The results of experimental studies of coherent population trapping signals observed for a series of cells which provided recovery of vapors of an alkali metal from the rubidium dichromate salt with the help of laser radiation are presented. The coherent population trapping signals with a typical linewidth of 2–3 kHz and a signal-to-noise ratio of 1500 in the 1-Hz bandwidth were observed, which allows one to provide a relative frequency stability of atomic clock of 10−11 at 100 s.
We have set up a coherent population trapping (CPT)-based magnetometer prototype with the D1 line of ⁸⁷Rb atoms. The dichromatic light field is derived from a fiber electro-optic modulator (FEOM) connected to an external cavity laser diode. A CPT resonance signal with a 516 Hz linewidth is observed. By feeding back the derivative of the resonance curve to the FEOM with a proportional integral controller, of which the voltage output is directly converted to the measured magnetic field intensity, the resonance peak is locked to the environmental magnetic field. The measurement data we have achieved are well matched with the data measured by a commercial fluxgate magnetometer within 2 nT, and the sensitivity is better than 8 pT/√Hz in a parallel B field.
We report our measurement of coherent-population-trapping (CPT) signal linewidths in small vapor cells, which are desirable for chip scale atomic clock (CSAC) applications. The linewidths are measured in both rubidium vapor cells and cesium vapor cells. Using a micro-machined silicon absorption cell (diameter = 1.7 mm, length = 2 mm), we demonstrate a sub-kHz linewidth (FWHM) of the clock transition in the /sup 133/Cs atom (|F = 3, m/sub F/ = 0>/spl harr/|F = 4, m/sub F/ = 0>). The measured intrinsic linewidths (FWHM = 777 Hz for Cs and FWHM = 1496 Hz for Rb) of the cells agree with the calculated results.
This paper introduces measurement of weak magnetic field using a novel design of chip-scale Spin Exchange Relaxation Free (SERF) atomic magnetometer based on a microfabricated Rubidium (Rb) vapor cell. The sensor, which integrates a micro-fabricated Rb vapor cell, a heater and related components, is fabricated by stacking printed circuit boards (PCB) and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) process technology. During the experiments, the noise of the measurement using the atomic magnetometer was obtained. In addition, a test of the simulated magnetic field was performed in a shielding cylinder, and the signal of the simulated magnetic field about 100 pT at 1.2 Hz was measured. The signal is processed by the software using a notch filter to suppress the Direct Current (DC) noise and 50Hz noise. This paper provides a novel micro-fabricated device for detecting weak magnetic field.
Controlling buffer-gas conditions in vapor cells is essential for frequency stabilization and atomic-clock performance. This study investigated the dependence of coherent population trapping (CPT) signal characteristics on nitrogen (N 2{}_{2}2​ ) buffer-gas pressure in micro-fabricated vapor cells containing natural-abundance rubidium (Rb) generated from Rb azide (RbN 3{}_{3}3​ ) for chip-scale atomic clocks. A wafer-level fabrication method enabling individual control of N2 pressure was developed by inkjet patterning of RbN3 and subsequent krypton fluoride (KrF) excimer laser decomposition. An increasing N2 pressure was found to reduce the CPT linewidth and cause a significant decrease in the signal amplitude, which resulted in monotonic degradation in the CPT figure of merit with higher pressures. A CPT-based laser frequency stabilization method that locked the laser wavelength to the CPT resonance peak yielded significantly larger signal amplitudes than a conventional absorption-based method in the low-pressure regime below 8 kPa. These results show that CPT performance in micro-fabricated Rb vapor cells is more restricted by the signal amplitude rather than the linewidth. They also offer practical buffer-gas design guidelines for enhancing short-term frequency stability in chip-scale atomic clocks.