John Kitching
Leader, Atomic Devices and Instruments Group, Boulder Labs, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
November 29, 2011 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room
Host: Clark Nguyen
We describe recent work at NIST to develop precision instruments based on atomic spectroscopy, advanced semiconductor lasers and MEMS. These millimeter-scale instruments achieve levels of stability or sensitivity comparable to their much larger counterparts but with reduced power consumption and potentially reduced manufacturing cost. Physics packages for atomic frequency references with fractional frequency stabilities in the range of 10-¹¹ over one hour have been demonstrated. Using similar device designs and processing, magnetometers with sensitivities below 10 fT/√Hz have been demonstrated, making them competitive with commercial SQUID-based sensors without the need for cryogenic cooling. The design, fabrication and performance of these instruments will be described, as well as applications to which the devices are well-suited. Finally, we speculate on possible future directions for chip-scale atomic instrumentation with a focus on the use of laser-cooled atomic samples.
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