Ultra-low birefringence dodecagonal vacuum glass cell
S. Brakhane, W. Alt, D. Meschede, C. Robens, G. Moon, A. Alberti
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 86 126108 (2015)
Abstract
We report on an ultra-low birefringence dodecagonal glass cell for ultra-high vacuum applications. The epoxy-bonded trapezoidal windows of the cell are made of SF57 glass, which exhibits a very low stress-induced birefringence. We characterize the birefringence Δn of each window with the cell under vacuum conditions, obtaining values around 10-8. After baking the cell at 150 ºC, we reach a pressure below 10-10 mbar. In addition, each window is antireflection coated on both sides, which is highly desirable for quantum optics experiments and precision measurements.