Micro Fabry-Perot Optical Cavities Integrated onto Atom-Chips

Optical cavities are highly sensitive, versatile, and well-suited for use in ultra-fine measurements. Micro Fabry-Perot cavities can be realized using mirrors formed into the ends of optical fibers. Micro Fabry-Perot optical cavities integrated into atom-chip based magnetic traps could be used to enable enhanced atom-photon coupling for nondestructive detection and in situ optical manipulations of magnetically trapped atoms. We will present our current advancements of mechanical integration and alignment techniques for use in custom milling fiber surfaces with high precision. We have demonstrated an innovative iterative milling technique which integrates phase-shifting optical profilometry, a six-axis precision motion control stage, and a high-powered CO₂ laser that ablates arbitrary surface geometries. To date, we have successfully formed concave mirrors with a 1-3 nm root-mean-square error as compared to an exact spherical surface with a radius of curvature of 1 mm.