ROBUST HIGH-TEMPERATURE SAPPHIRE CELL FOR METAL VAPORS

We describe a simple vacuum cell that successfully contains high-temperature and high-density alkali-metal and alkaline-earth vapors. The transparent cell, made from sapphire parts joined by melted glass powders, operates without a buffer gas. Temperatures over 700 °C and metal-vapor densities greater than 1017 cm-3 have been achieved. Such an optical cell is useful for many atomic physics experiments where collisions with buffer gas atoms are problematic or where a spatially uniform distribution of high-density, corrosive atoms is desired. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.