Simple fabrication of miniaturized glass cells for atomic vapor spectroscopy

Abstract

Recent technological applications like atomic clocks, magnetometers or gyroscopes require the miniaturization of alkali vapor cells. We propose a procedure to manufacture miniaturized glass cells by cutting them from a larger one, previously filled with the required vapor. The proof of concept was demonstrated by fabricating millimeter-size cells with pure Rb vapor. We perform measurements of the mean lifetime of the $$^{85}$$ Rb(5D $$_{5/2}$$ ) excited state to sensitively probe the presence of impurities inside the miniaturized cells. We find that the proposed cutting procedure seals the cells without compromising the Rb vapor purity. This demonstrates that the proposed method can be successfully used for vapor cell miniaturization.