Fabrication of an Rb–Xe gas cell with optical components attached by optical contact bonding for an atom spin gyroscope

We describe the fabrication of a cubic Rb-Xe gas cell integrated with optical components. Two prism mirrors and a reflection mirror are attached to the Rb-Xe gas cell by optical contact bonding. This concept was studied by using free induction decay measurements of Xe gas with two diode lasers at 795 nm in a magnetic shield. The transverse spin relaxation times of ¹²⁹<i>X</i><i>e</i> and ¹³¹<i>X</i><i>e</i> are 7.0 s and 7.2 s, respectively, with sufficient signal amplitude. Optical contact bonding is shown to be promising to provide the monolithic atomic gas cell with optical components and the compact design of an atom spin gyroscope.