Cs vapor microcells with Ne-He buffer gas mixture for high operation-temperature miniature atomic clocks.

Abstract

We report on the characterization of Cs vapor microfabricated cells filled with a Ne-He buffer gas mixture using coherent population trapping (CPT) spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the Cs clock frequency is found to be canceled at the first order around a so-called inversion temperature higher than 80°C whose value depends on the buffer gas partial pressure ratio. This buffer gas mixture could be well-adapted for the development of miniature atomic clocks devoted to be used in specific applications such as defense and avionic systems with high operating temperature environment (typically higher than 85°C). This solution suggests an alternative to buffer gas mixtures generally used in optically-pumped vapor cell atomic clocks.