This thesis follows several investigations into micro-fabricated vapour cells towards
the development of compact and field deployable atomic devices such as
RF/optical atomic clocks, wavelength references and magnetometers. Initially I
investigated a novel fabrication technique using a water-jet cutter to form deep
silicon cavities allowing for micro-fabricated vapour cells to be produced with a
6mm optical path length in an efficient and low-cost manner. I then investigated
controlling the N2 pressure within a micro-fabricated cell via laser heating
an non-evaporable getter. From this study it was found that the N2 pressure
could be reduced from one to hundreds of Torr and this technique was then used
to map out the intrinsic relaxation rate of the Cs atoms within the cell with a
optically pumped magnetometer. Then I investigated packaging a Rb cell with
a 1mm optical path length together with printed circuit board coils to create a
Zeeman tunable wavelength reference, which demonstrated a frequency tunability
of ± 60MHz and a short-term frequency stability comparable to conventional
Rb wavelength references. Next I fabricated a 6 mm thick micro-fabricated cell,
which was capable of sustaining a cold atom sample with active vacuum pumping.
This cell was integrated with a micro-fabricated diffractive optic to produce
a chip-scale laser cooling platform capable of trapping 106 87Rb atoms. Finally I
investigated different fabrication routes to realise a micro-fabricated vapour cell
with an elongated geometry for two-photon optical clocks.
| Date of Award | 10 Dec 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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| Sponsors | EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) |
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| Supervisor | Erling Riis (Supervisor) & Paul Griffin (Supervisor) |
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