Dynamically stabilized high vacuum inside rubidium vapor MEMS cell for cold atom spectroscopy

Abstract

The unique solution of micro-powered and fully functional MEMS device for cold atom spectroscopy is presented. The solution described here may be particularly valuable for CubeSats technology, where low power demand, small dimensions and low weight are absolutely required.The MEMS device is a multilayer silicon-glass structure. The key part of the structure is high-quality glass tube assembled onto silicon-glass planar structure. Ion-sorption micropump and laser induced alkali vapor introduction method were used to build this MEMS device.During tests it was shown that it is possible to generate and maintain a high vacuum $(10^{-7}$ hPa) and control the number of alkali vapors $(\sim 10^{-6}$ hPa), where the power demand was about 1 mW. This achievement opens a way to build micro-powered, high-vacuum alkali vapors MEMS cells for atomic devices, including cold atom spectroscopy.