Reliability characteristics of microfabricated Rb mini-lamps for optical pumping in miniature atomic clocks and magnetometers

Vinu Venkatraman; Yves Pétremand; Nico de Rooij; Herbert Shea

doi:10.1117/12.2006032

9 March 2013 Reliability characteristics of microfabricated Rb mini-lamps for optical pumping in miniature atomic clocks and magnetometers

Vinu Venkatraman, Yves Pétremand, Nico de Rooij, Herbert Shea

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8614, Reliability, Packaging, Testing, and Characterization of MOEMS/MEMS and Nanodevices XII; 861406 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2006032
Event: SPIE MOEMS-MEMS, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

With the rising need for microfabricated chip-scale atomic clocks to enable high precision timekeeping in portable applications, there has been active interest in developing miniature (<few cm³), chip-scale alkali vapor lamps, since vapor plasma discharge sources are currently the standard for optical pumping in double-resonance clocks. We reported in 2012 a first microfabricated chip-scale Rubidium dielectric barrier discharge lamp. The device’s preliminary results indicated its high potential for optical pumping applications and wafer-scale batch fabrication. The chip-scale plasma light sources were observed to be robust with no obvious performance change after thousands of plasma ignitions, and with no electrode erosion from plasma discharges since the electrodes are external. However, as atomic clocks have strict lamp performance requirements including less than 0.1% sub-second optical power fluctuations, power consumption less than 20 mW and a device lifetime of at least several years, it is important to understand the long-term reliability of these Rb planar mini-lamps, and identify the operating conditions where these devices can be most reliable and stable. In this paper, we report on the reliability of such microfabricated lamps including a continuous several month run of the lamp where the optical power, electrical power consumption and temperature stability were continuously monitored. We also report on the effects of temperature, rf-power and the lamp-drive parasitics on the optical power stability and discuss steps that could be taken to further improve the device’s performance and reliability.

Citation Download Citation

Vinu Venkatraman, Yves Pétremand, Nico de Rooij, and Herbert Shea "Reliability characteristics of microfabricated Rb mini-lamps for optical pumping in miniature atomic clocks and magnetometers", Proc. SPIE 8614, Reliability, Packaging, Testing, and Characterization of MOEMS/MEMS and Nanodevices XII, 861406 (9 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2006032

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
7 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Rubidium

Lamps

Dielectrics

Light sources

Microfabrication

Plasma

Atomic clocks

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years