A heated vapor cell unit for dichroic atomic vapor laser lock in atomic rubidium

The design and performance of a compact heated vapor cell unit for realizing a dichroic atomic vapor laser lock (DAVLL) for the D-2 transitions in atomic rubidium is described. A 5 cm long vapor cell is placed in a double-solenoid arrangement to produce the required magnetic field; the heat from the solenoid is used to increase the vapor pressure and correspondingly the DAVLL signal. We have characterized experimentally the dependence of important features of the DAVLL signal on magnetic field and cell temperature. For the weaker transitions both the amplitude and gradient of the signal are increased by an order of magnitude. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.