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Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems

Monolithically Integrated 3D Atomic Chip for Quantum Optical Magnetometry

Ziji Wang, Junming Wu, Gong Sun, Jintang Shang

Published Dec 5, 2023• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A monolithically integrated 3D atomic chip for weak magnetic field detection is presented in this work. A 14.8 ohm MEMS thin film non-magnetic micro heater is monolithically integrated onto a micro spherical alkali vapor cell to realize on-chip atomic density control. Both magnetic and thermal characteristics of the non-magnetic heater are analyzed theoretically. Based on the heater-integrated atomic chip, a chip-scale scalar atomic magnetometer is realized and tested in a magnetic shield. Effect of heating noise suppression methods including high frequency heating, noise-shifting heating and high precision feedback control on magnetometer performance is experimentally analyzed. By further analyzing and eliminating glitch noise in output signal, magnetic noise floor of the constructed device reduced by over 88 %. The proposed atomic chip is especially advantageous for future low-cost and high integration quantum optical magnetometry. [2023-0152]

DOI
10.1109/jmems.2023.3337513

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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.
Recently, there has been growing interest in the miniaturization and integration of atomic-based quantum technologies. In addition to the obvious advantages brought by such integration in facilitating mass production, reducing the footprint, and reducing the cost, the flexibility offered by on-chip integration enables the development of new concepts and capabilities. In particular, recent advanced techniques based on computer-assisted optimization algorithms enable the development of newly engineered photonic structures with unconventional functionalities. Taking this concept further, we hereby demonstrate the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of an integrated nanophotonic-atomic chip magnetometer based on alkali vapor with a micrometer-scale spatial resolution and a magnetic sensitivity of 700 pT/√Hz. The presented platform paves the way for future applications using integrated photonic-atomic chips, including high-spatial-resolution magnetometry, near-field vectorial imaging, magnetically induced switching, and optical isolation.
Highly sensitive optical magnetometers present high performance in detection of biological magnetic fields from the heart or the brain and have impact on other areas as diverse as magnetic resonance imaging, space science and remote monitoring. A chip-scale SERF-regime optical magnetometer based on a MEMS process is fabricated instead of a large-chamber one and the optical module and the vapor cell are fabricated based on the MEMS process. Industrialization, low cost and high systematic integration level of magnetic sensors can also be achieved based on the wafer-level packaging. Besides, a 200KHz AC electronic current was applied to the heaters for reducing magnetic noises generated by DC currents from heating resistors. The experimental setup based on a SERF-regime magnetometer to test magnetic fields is shown and results indicate that magnetic fields are tested successfully.
An optically pumped magnetometer was drastically miniaturized, by taking advantage of MEMS techniques, producing the chip-scale atomic magnetometers (CSAM) physics package. The key component of the package is an alkali vapor cell. To probe the magnetic field experienced by the atoms, the injection current to the VCSEL was modulated at 3.4 GHz near half the hyperfine frequency of87Rb. Lock-in detection is used to determine the center of the resonance, and the magnetic field is determined by counting the modulation frequency, which is related to the Larmor precession frequency under these locked conditions. The ITO heaters create a large magnetic field gradient, which broadens the resonance and reduces the sensitivity.
Abstract Optical magnetometers based on alkali vapors, such as rubidium, are among the most sensitive technologies for detecting and characterizing magnetic fields. Following the recent effort in miniaturizing atomic-based quantum technologies, the last years were marked by a growing interest in developing integrated quantum nanophotonic circuits for a vast range of applications. Motivated by the attractiveness of such chip-scale integration, we present and experimentally demonstrate an integrated magnetic sensing platform, based on a nanophotonic-chip interfaced to a microfabricated alkali vapor cell. Magnetically induced circular dichroism in rubidium vapor is measured using a planar structure that spatially resolves the handedness of incoming photons depending on their spin. The presented approach paves the way toward further integration of highly sensitive magnetometers, with potential for future applications, such as in high-spatial resolution magnetic vectorial imaging.
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.