摘要:
The invention relates to an alkali-metal vapour cell, especially for an atomic clock, and to its manufacturing process. The alkali-metal vapour cell (2) is able to be associated with a laser (3) for emitting an external input laser beam (5a) and a photodetector (4) for receiving an external output laser beam (5e), and comprises a housing (6) having an upstream optical window (9) and a downstream optical window (10) and forming an optical cavity (11) filled with an alkali-metal vapour such as a caesium-comprising vapour, and micro-optical means arranged in the optical cavity (11) and comprising an upstream optical reflector (14) and a downstream optical reflector (15) for reflecting the laser beam (5), which reflectors are inclined relative to each other, the upstream reflector (14) being inclined relative to the plane (P) of the upstream window (9) and to the axis of the input laser beam (5) so that the external input laser beam (5a) passes through the upstream window (9) in order to form an internal input laser beam (5b), the latter being reflected by the upstream reflector (14) and deviated towards the downstream reflector (15) so as to form an internal intermediate laser beam (5c) that is reflected by the downstream reflector (15) and deviated towards the downstream window (10) so as to form an internal output laser beam (5d), the internal output (5d) laser beam (5) passing through the downstream window (10) in order to form the external output laser beam (5e).
摘要:
The invention relates to a gas cell (2) for an atomic sensor (1), comprising an optical cavity (11) provided with at least one optical window (9) and fillable with a gas. The cell also comprises a sealing cup (13) comprising a cavity mouth (14), a channel mouth (15), and a sealing access (16), as well as a membrane (18) which hermetically closes the sealing access of the sealing cup. The membrane (18) can be plastically deformed by heating so as to hermetically close the cavity mouth and/or the channel mouth, in such a way as to hermetically separate the optical cavity (11) from the gas inflow channel (17).
摘要:
The invention relates to a device (8) for shaping a laser beam (5) for an atomic sensor (1), comprising a retroreflective prism (9) with an input area (12), an output area (13) and two reflective surfaces (14, 15) forming a right angle therebetween. The shaping device comprises a linear polariser (10) arranged upstream from the input area (12) of the retroreflective prism (9) in order to impose a linear polarisation on a laser beam entering the retroreflective prism via the input area, and a form birefringence plate (11) arranged downstream from the output area (13) of the retroreflective prism in order to impose a circular polarisation on a laser beam exiting from the retroreflective prism via the output area.