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Quantum technologies

Dieter Meschede's research group
Home Fibre cavity QED
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Ultra-low birefringence dodecagonal vacuum glass cell - patent pending

Modern experiments for the investigation of cold atom ensembles require an ultra-high vacuum apparatus with a very large optical access and an accurate preservation of the state of polarization of laser beams. Typical ultrahigh vacuum cells suffer from residual stress-induced birefringence, which deteriorates the polarisation's purity [1]. In addition, birefringence gradients prevent the full compensation of birefringence. This effect effectively limits the extinction ratio to typically η > 10-5. We recently developed an ultra-low birefringence ultra-high vacuum cell that exhibits a polarization extinction two orders of magnitude smaller than commercial vacuum cells at around η ≈ 10-7 [2]. Besides the ultra-low birefringence, the vacuum cell features a dodecagonal geometry with double-sided antireflection coated windows (see picture). The cell is currently utilized in one of our laboratories, where we manipulate ultracold Cs atoms in two-dimensional state-dependent optical lattices.

If you are interested in our invention for commercial applications, please see our patent abstract containing also the contact to our patent advisor, PROvendis [3].

[1]: S. Brakhane, and A. Alberti, "Technical note: Stress-Induced Birefringence in Vacuum Systems", download link (June, 2016)
[2]: S. Brakhane, W. Alt, D. Meschede, C. Robens, G. Moon, and A. Alberti, "Note: Ultra-low birefringence dodecagonal vacuum glass cell," Rev. Sci. Instrum. 86, 126108 (2015)
[3]: Patent abstract, PROvendis, Patent advisor of the University of Bonn, download link (March, 2016)

 

 

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