Temperature-tunable sapphire windows for reflection loss-free operation ofvapor cells

We have developed a "temperature-tunable cell", for which the reflected int ensity of a laser beam on a chosen window can be reduced below 0.5% of the incident intensity, if one can control the cell temperature with an accurac y better than 1 degrees C. This application relies on the use of windows ma de from highly parallel and smooth (0001) sapphire plates. More generally, such sapphire plates have proven to be extremely well-suited components in the field of atomic physics and laser applications.