Miniaturized optical system for a chip based cold atom inertial sensor

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact optical system for a chip-based cold atom inertial sensor, integrating all necessary functions into a small, portable setup suitable for practical applications.

Contribution

The authors developed a fully miniaturized optical bench with integrated laser locking and trapping capabilities, significantly reducing size while maintaining functionality.

Findings

Successfully miniaturized the optical system to 35x25x5 cm^3.

Achieved 2D and 3D magneto optical traps for Rubidium 87 atoms.

Integrated laser locking system within a 5U-rack for compactness.

Abstract

We miniaturized the complex optical system responsible for the cooling, pumping and imaging of an on-chip based cold atom inertial sensor. This optical bench uses bonded miniature optics and includes all the necessary optical functions. The bench has a volume of 35x25x5~cm$^3$. We developed a laser frequency lock adapted to the optical bench using saturated absorption in a rubidium cell. The entire laser source based on frequency doubling of 1.56~$\mu$m fiber lasers, including the control system and the saturated absorption module, fits in a $5U$-rack. Using the miniaturized bench, we realized two and three dimensional magneto optical traps for Rubidium 87 atoms.