Modification of glass cell walls by rubidium vapor

Abstract

It has long been known that the inner walls of freshly manufactured glass cells filled with a few droplets of alkali metal undergo a ``curing'' process, where the properties of the cell wall change over a period of days to weeks. We report quantitative studies of ``curing'' in Pyrex cells filled with rubidium metal. Our experiment shows that at $94\text{ }\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}\text{C}$, the surface of Pyrex glass adsorbs about $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{15}$ rubidium atoms per ${\text{cm}}^{2}$, which is equivalent to 6--7 monolayers of liquid rubidium.