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Physical Review A

High-brilliance Zeeman-slowed cesium atomic beam

Frank Lison, P. Schuh, D. Haubrich, Dieter Meschede

Published Dec 10, 1999• 52 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have built a Zeeman-slower apparatus which produces a slow and cold cesium atomic beam. The atomic beam has a mean velocity in the range 35--120 m/s and a high atomic current of more than $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}$ cold atoms/s. A small longitudinal velocity spread was achieved by optimizing the termination of the slowing process. The measured value of less than 1 m/s is consistent with a numerical simulation of the slowing process. With a magnetic lens and a tilted two-dimensional optical molasses stage, the slow atomic beam is transversely compressed, collimated, and deflected. We achieve a transverse temperature below the Doppler limit. The brilliance of this beam has been determined to be $7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{23}$ atoms ${\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ ${\mathrm{sr}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}.$ By optical pumping the slow atomic beam can be polarized in the outermost magnetic substates ${F=4,m}_{F}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4,$ of the cesium ground state. This brilliant beam is an ideal source for experiments in atom optics and atom lithography.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.61.013405

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We have built a Zeeman-slower apparatus which produces a slow and cold cesium atomic beam. The atomic beam has a mean velocity in the range 35--120 m/s and a high atomic current of more than 2\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10102\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}2\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi1010 cold atoms/s. A small longitudinal velocity spread was achieved by optimizing the termination of the slowing process. The measured value of less than 1 m/s is consistent with a numerical simulation of the slowing process. With a magnetic lens and a tilted two-dimensional optical molasses stage, the slow atomic beam is transversely compressed, collimated, and deflected. We achieve a transverse temperature below the Doppler limit. The brilliance of this beam has been determined to be 7\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10237\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{23}7\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi1023 atoms s\ensuremath−1m\ensuremath−2{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}s\ensuremath−1m\ensuremath−2 sr\ensuremath−1.{\mathrm{sr}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}.sr\ensuremath−1. By optical pumping the slow atomic beam can be polarized in the outermost magnetic substates F=4,mF=\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi4,{F=4,m}_{F}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4,F=4,mF​=\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi4, of the cesium ground state. This brilliant beam is an ideal source for experiments in atom optics and atom lithography.
A thermal atomic beam from a cesium oven was slowed down by use of the Hoffnagle modified white-light cooling technique. In addition, the atomic beam was collimated by use of a two-dimensional optical molasses that was installed transverse to the atomic-beam direction. The flux of the atomic beam was 2×1010 atoms/s, an increase of a factor of 16 as a result of the collimation. The mean longitudinal velocity was ∼24.4 m/s, and the rms velocity spread of the slowed atomic beam was ∼1 m/s. Compared with other methods, we found that the Hoffnagle method is suitable for the generation of slow atomic beams to be used in an atomic clock, which requires an ultralow magnetic field environment. This atomic beam was deflected by an angle of 30° by a one-dimensional optical molasses to separate it from laser light and high-velocity atoms.
By the moving molasses technique we have extracted laser-cooled cesium atoms in a continuous way directly from an optical molasses. The mean launching velocity is precisely tunable from 1 to 12 m/s. The atomic beam has a flux of $1.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8} \mathrm{a}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ at 7 m/s and a longitudinal temperature of $70 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K},$ which represents the highest flux and lowest velocity spread obtained so far in a continuous beam of cold atoms. These features makes it well suited for atomic fountains. The atomic flux can be slightly increased in a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap operation (+40(+40%).(+40 A simple model accounts for the observed dependence of the flux with the magnetic-field gradient.
Laser cooling methods provide the possibility to obtain very well collimated and slow atomic beams. These intense sources have attracted new interest in the manipulation of atomic trajectories. Atom optical schemes based on the optical dipole force are very attractive, for example in atom lithography where atomic beams are focused by standing wave light elds, to create periodic nanostructures. However, in applications where more complex structures are desirable or decoherence due to spontaneous emission has to be avoided, magnetic atom optical components are more attractive. For example, at and curved atomic mirrors with high reflectivity and low surface rough ness can be built from periodically magnetized videotapes. First, with a collimated and polarized cesium atomic beam from a Zeeman-slower apparatus, we have investigated the deflection of the atomic beam by a sinusoidally magnetized videotape with a period length of 30 μm. From these measurements we have determined the magnetic eld strength at the surface to be 0.05 Tesla. The reflectivity has been found to be consistent with 100%. The very large eld gradients produced by the tape can be exploited to guide atoms on curved trajectories with small radii of curvature. With a radius of 9.5 cm we have obtained a maximum deflection angle of 25° which is limited by technical constraint. Second, we have built a setup based on a 2D-MOT for generating a slow atomic beam with a velocity of 20 m/s. After leaving the optical collimation and the optical polarization stages, the atomic beam is reflected after one bounce onto the videotape up to angles as large as 7°. We exploited the natural curvature of our videotape and we demonstrated the focusing of the atomic beam after one and two bounces depending on the curvature of the videotape. The focal length and the angles of deflection enable to deduce the local radii of curvature. We have confronted our results by testing the focusing of the videotape with a red laser and by performing a numerical simulation which prove the consistency with the atomic beam experiments.
We report on the production of a continuous, slow, and cold beam of Rb87 atoms with an extremely high flux of 3.2×1012atoms∕s, a transverse temperature of 3mK, and a longitudinal temperature of 90mK. We describe the apparatus created to generate the atom beam. Hot atoms are emitted from a rubidium candlestick atomic beam source and transversely cooled and collimated by a 20cm long atomic collimator section, boosting overall beam flux by a factor of 50. The Rb atomic beam is then decelerated and longitudinally cooled by a 1m long Zeeman slower.
We present the design, construction, and characterization of an integrated cold atomic beam source for strontium (Sr), which is based on a compact Zeeman slower for slowing the thermal atomic beam and an atomic deflector for selecting the cold flux. By adopting arrays of permanent magnets to produce the magnetic fields of the slower and the deflector, we effectively reduce the system size and power compared to traditional systems with magnetic coils. After the slower cooling, one can employ additional transverse cooling in the radial direction and improve the atom collimation. The atomic deflectors employ two stages of two-dimensional magnetic-optical trapping (MOT) to deflect the cold flux, whose atomic speed is lower than 50 m/s, by 20° from the thermal atomic beam. We characterize the cold atomic beam flux of the source by measuring the loading rate of a three-dimensional MOT. The loading rates reach up to 109 atoms/s. The setup is compact, highly tunable, lightweight, and requires low electrical power, which addresses the challenge of reducing the complexity of building optical atomic clocks and quantum simulation devices based on Sr.