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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Gradient Echo Quantum Memory in Warm Atomic Vapor
Published on: November 12, 2013
Atomic vapor cells for chip-scale atomic clocks with improved long-term frequency stability
S Knappe1, V Gerginov, P D D Schwindt
1Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 8030, USA. knappe@boulder.nist.gov
Abstract:
A novel technique for microfabricating alkali atom vapor cells is described in which alkali atoms are evaporated into a micromachined cell cavity through a glass nozzle. A cell of interior volume 1 mm3, containing 87Rb and a buffer gas, was made in this way and integrated into an atomic clock based on coherent population trapping. A fractional frequency instability of 6 x 10(-12) at 1000 s of integration was measured. The long-term drift of the F=1, mF=0-->F=2, mF=0 hyperfine frequency of atoms in these cells is below 5 x 10(-11)/day.
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