Laser-written vapor cells for chip-scale atomic sensing and spectroscopy

Abstract

We report the fabrication of alkali-metal vapor cells using femtosecond laser machining. This laser-written vapor-cell (LWVC) technology allows arbitrarily-shaped 3D interior volumes and has potential for integration with photonic structures and optical components. We use nonevaporable getters both to dispense rubidium and to absorb buffer gas. This enables us to produce cells with sub-atmospheric buffer gas pressures without vacuum apparatus. We demonstrate sub-Doppler saturated absorption spectroscopy and single beam optical magnetometry with a single LWVC. The LWVC technology may find application in miniaturized atomic quantum sensors and frequency references.