System for charging a vapor cell
AssigneeTeledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC
InventorsRobert L. Borwick, III, Alan L. Sailer, Jeffrey F. DaNatale, Philip A. Stupar, Chialun Tsai
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Abstract
A system is disclosed for charging a compact vapor cell, including placing an alkali-filled capillary into a reservoir cell formed in a substrate, the reservoir cell in vapor communication with an interrogation cell in the substrate and bonding a transparent window to the substrate on a common face of the reservoir cell and the interrogation cell to form a compact vapor cell. Capillary action in the capillary delays migration of alkali in the alkali-filled capillary from the reservoir cell into the interrogation cell during the bonding.
Claims17
A method of charging a compact vapor cell, comprising:
- placing an alkali-filled capillary into a reservoir cell formed in a substrate, said reservoir cell in vapor communication with an interrogation cell in said substrate;
- and
- bonding a transparent window to said substrate on a common face of said reservoir cell and said interrogation cell to form a compact vapor cell;
- wherein capillary action in said capillary delays migration of alkali in said alkali-filled capillary from said reservoir cell into said interrogation cell during said bonding.
A method of manufacturing compact vapor cells, comprising:
- forming a plurality of interrogation cells in a wafer;
- forming a respective plurality of reservoir cells to form interrogation-reservoir cell pairs in vapor communication with each other through a trench;
- placing an alkali-filled capillary into each of said plurality of reservoir cells;
- and
- bonding a window over each of said interrogation-reservoir cell pairs to establish a plurality of vapor cells on said wafer.
The method of 10, further comprising:
- drawing a liquid alkali into a tube using capillary action;
- cooling said liquid alkali to form solid alkali in said tube;
- and
- dicing said tube having solid alkali to form said alkali-filled capillary.
An apparatus, comprising:
- an interrogation cell in a substrate;
- a reservoir cell in said substrate, said reservoir cell in vapor communication with said interrogation cell through a trench;
- a first glass window bonded to one side of said substrate and enclosing a first side of said interrogation cell and said reservoir cell;
- and
- an alkali-filled capillary disposed in said reservoir cell;
- wherein said reservoir cell is charged with an alkali in preparation for subsequent manufacture of a vapor cell.
The apparatus of 13, further comprising:
- a second glass window bonded to an opposite side of said substrate and enclosing a second side of said interrogation cell to establish a vapor cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.