Robust and scalable vacuum cell technology for the quantum ecosystem
Clinton Cahall, Stephen Hughes, Judith Olson, T. Noel, Matthew B. Jaskot, Sebastian Kross, Roger C. Brown, Clinton Cahall, J. Denney, Christopher J. Wood
Quantum technology is critical for the next generation of computing, communication, sensing, and time-keeping devices. Systems utilizing atomic media are compelling and leading candidates for each application, and vacuum cells are at the core. Compact vacuum hardware is critical to enabling performance improvements and reduction in the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the overall system. Infleqtion has designed and produced novel and compact vacuum cells for the next generation of quantum-atomic systems. Vacuum hardware ranging from ultra-high vacuum (UHV) to warm vapor cells are constructed with adhesive-free methods to routinely enable high atomic and vacuum level performance at a fraction of the size of traditional vacuum systems. Cells are constructed with a wide range of materials including glass, semiconductors, metals, and ceramics. Scalable manufacturing practices are applied to vacuum cell design and construction to support the growing quantum technology market in position, navigation, and timing (PNT), and quantum information applications. Infleqtion's in-situ bonding stations have demonstrated key building blocks for vacuum cell production at scale. Cell assembly techniques that enable future integration of photonic waveguides and active photonic elements provides a clear path to manufacturing core quantum components at scale for the Quantum Ecosystem.
Quantum technology is critical for the next generation of computing, communication, sensing, and time-keeping devices. Systems utilizing atomic media are compelling and leading candidates for each application, and vacuum cells are at the core. Compact vacuum hardware is critical to enabling performance improvements and reduction in the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the overall system. Infleqtion has designed and produced novel and compact vacuum cells for the next generation of quantum-atomic systems. Vacuum hardware ranging from ultra-high vacuum (UHV) to warm vapor cells are constructed with adhesive-free methods to routinely enable high atomic and vacuum level performance at a fraction of the size of traditional vacuum systems. Cells are constructed with a wide range of materials including glass, semiconductors, metals, and ceramics. Scalable manufacturing practices are applied to vacuum cell design and construction to support the growing quantum technology market in position, navigation, and timing (PNT), and quantum information applications. Infleqtion's in-situ bonding stations have demonstrated key building blocks for vacuum cell production at scale. Cell assembly techniques that enable future integration of photonic waveguides and active photonic elements provides a clear path to manufacturing core quantum components at scale for the Quantum Ecosystem.
Infleqtion is a leader in Neutral Atom Quantum Systems, with a rich history in quantum systems research and the sale of UHV Quantum Cores across the quantum market (formerly as ColdQuanta). Infleqtion is pioneering the commercialization of neutral atom quantum systems, including its Optical Atomic Clock, ‘Tiqker,’ Quantum Computing system, ‘Sqale’, as well as Quantum-RF (SqyWire) and Quantum-Inertial sensing systems. Future Infleqtion quantum products will rely on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for miniaturization, high-volume low-cost manufacturing, reliability, and ruggedization. PICs will replace the large and expensive lab-quality laser systems, precise frequency control, and atom-addressing methods used in current quantum systems, enabling a 10x to 10,000x reduction in cost, size, weight, and power (C-SWaP). This will allow systems to transition from research labs to data centers, mobile, and aerospace platforms. While neutral atoms in UHV cells or warm vapor cells form the core of Infleqtion’s quantum systems, over 90% of these systems’ size and cost are from photonics components, similar to telecom/datacom fiber-optic systems. Consequently, the nascent quantum systems industry may follow a similar trajectory to the telecom/datacom industry, evolving from research on large optical tables, to racks of interconnected photonic components, and eventually to systems comprising a Quantum Core and high-performance PICs. These PICs will use the Silicon Photonics platform, leveraging decades of investment and advancements in Silicon CMOS technology, utilizing the same foundry processes used to manufacture today’s CPUs and GPUs. They will provide the majority of components needed for future neutral atom Quantum Computers and Sensors.
Compact, customizable, non-magnetic vacuum systems are a key requirement for many field applications of quantum technology based on cold atoms. We report on the development and construction of a compact, low-cost ultra-high vacuum compatible cell using the glass-ceramic MACOR. The cell offers a CF flange connection to commercial vacuum technology, as well as high numerical aperture viewports for precision optical measurements. The presented technology shows stable vacuum pressures of <1⋅10−10 mbar for more than a year since the implementation into the vacuum system of a quantum gas experiment, further proving suitability for general quantum technology applications.
Recent advances in the preparation, control and measurement of atomic gases have led to new insights into the quantum world and unprecedented metrological sensitivities, e.g. in measuring gravitational forces and magnetic fields. The full potential of applying such capabilities to areas as diverse as biomedical imaging, non-invasive underground mapping, and GPS-free navigation can only be realised with the scalable production of efficient, robust and portable devices. We introduce additive manufacturing as a production technique of quantum device components with unrivalled design freedom and rapid prototyping. This provides a step change in efficiency, compactness and facilitates systems integration. As a demonstrator we present an ultrahigh vacuum compatible ultracold atom source dissipating less than ten milliwatts of electrical power during field generation to produce large samples of cold rubidium gases. This disruptive technology opens the door to drastically improved integrated structures, which will further reduce size and assembly complexity in scalable series manufacture of bespoke portable quantum devices.
Compact ultra-high vacuum systems are key enabling components for cold atom technologies, facilitating extremely accurate sensing applications. There has been important progress towards a truly portable compact vacuum system, however size, weight and power consumption can be prohibitively large, optical access may be limited, and active pumping is often required. Here, we present a centilitre-scale ceramic vacuum chamber with He-impermeable viewports and an integrated diffractive optic, enabling robust laser cooling with light from a single polarization-maintaining fibre. A cold atom demonstrator based on the vacuum cell delivers 107 laser-cooled 87Rb atoms per second, using minimal electrical power. With continuous Rb gas emission active pumping yields a 10−7mbar equilibrium pressure, and passive pumping stabilises to 3×10−6mbar, with a 17day time constant. A passively-pumped vacuum cell, with no Rb dispensing, has currently kept a similar pressure for a year. The passive-pumping vacuum lifetime is several years, estimated from short-term He throughput, with many foreseeable improvements. This technology enables wide-ranging mobilization of ultracold quantum metrology.
Compact vacuum systems are key enabling components for cold atom technologies, facilitating extremely accurate sensing applications. There has been important progress toward a truly portable compact vacuum system; however, size, weight, and power consumption can be prohibitively large, optical access may be limited, and active pumping is often required. Here, we present a centiliter-scale ceramic vacuum chamber with He-impermeable viewports and an integrated diffractive optic, enabling robust laser cooling with light from a single polarization-maintaining fiber. A cold atom demonstrator based on the vacuum cell delivers 107 laser-cooled 87Rb atoms per second, using minimal electrical power. With continuous Rb gas emission, active pumping yields a 10−7 mbar equilibrium pressure, and passive pumping stabilizes to 3×10−6 mbar with a 17 day time constant. A vacuum cell, with no Rb dispensing and only passive pumping, has currently kept a similar pressure for more than 500 days. The passive-pumping vacuum lifetime is several years, which is estimated from short-term He throughput with many foreseeable improvements. This technology enables wide-ranging mobilization of ultracold quantum metrology.
Novel quantum technologies and devices place unprecedented demands on the performance of experimental components, while their widespread deployment beyond the laboratory necessitates increased robustness and fast affordable production.We show how the use of additive manufacturing, together with mathematical optimization techniques and innovative designs, allows the production of compact lightweight components with greatly enhanced performance.We use such components to produce a magneto-optical trap that captures approximately 2 × 10 8 rubidium atoms, employing for this purpose a compact and highly stable device for spectroscopy and optical power distribution, optimized neodymium magnet arrays for magnetic field generation, and a lightweight additively manufactured ultrahigh-vacuum chamber.We show how the use of additive manufacturing enables substantial weight reduction and stability enhancement, while also illustrating the transferability of our approach to experiments and devices across the quantum technology sector and beyond.