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Physical Review A

Cold rubidium atomic beam produced by Zeeman-imbalanced radiation pressures

Kihwan Kim, Heung‐Ryoul Noh, Young-Hee Yeon, Vladimir G. Minogin, Wonho Jhe

Published May 3, 2002• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We extract a cold rubidium 85 atomic beam from a magneto-optical trap using the technique based on the pulsed Zeeman-imbalanced radiation pressure. We observe the separation of an atomic beam on a velocity scale associated with the two-photon sub-Doppler resonances in the radiation pressure force, and show that experimental observations are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We find that under optimal conditions an atomic beam extracted by a homogeneous magnetic field has a longitudinal temperature in a region of $12--30 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K},$ which is an order of magnitude lower than the temperatures obtained so far with the magnetic scheme.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.65.055404

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Physical Review A•May 31, 2001•17 citations
We extract a cold rubidium 85 atomic beam from a magneto-optical trap using the technique based on the pulsed Zeeman-imbalanced radiation pressure. We observe the separation of an atomic beam on a velocity scale associated with the two-photon sub-Doppler resonances in the radiation pressure force, and show that experimental observations are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We find that under optimal conditions an atomic beam extracted by a homogeneous magnetic field has a longitudinal temperature in a region of 12−−30\ensuremathμK,12--30 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K},12−−30\ensuremathμK, which is an order of magnitude lower than the temperatures obtained so far with the magnetic scheme.
We present an experimental set-up for the production of a beam source of cold 87Rb atoms, which is formed from a trapped cold atomic cloud in a three-dimensional (3D) magneto-optical trap (MOT). Via a radiation pressure difference generated by a specially designed leak tunnel along one trapping laser beam, the atoms are pushed out continuously with low velocity and high flux. The beam was measured to have a mean velocity of 12m/s and a longitudinal velocity spread of about 3m/s under nominal experimental conditions, based on the fluorescence and the time of flight (TOF) technologies. And its flux can be tuned by adjusting the MOT parameters from 108 to 109 atoms/s. Especially the beam performance dependence on trapping laser detuning and power is experimentally studied.
Starting from a 2D magneto-optical trap where cesium atoms are permanently subjected to 3D sub-Doppler cooling and 2D magneto-optical trapping, we have produced a beam of cold atoms continuously extracted along the trap axis. The simplest extraction mechanism, presently used, is the drift velocity induced by a constant magnetic field. We have used this continuous beam of atoms to produce Ramsey fringes in a microwave cavity as a first demonstration of an atomic resonator operating continuously with laser cooled atoms. The shape of the resonance pattern allows an estimate of the axial temperature, typically 200 μK. The average velocity can be adjusted from 0.7 to 3 m/s; the trap-to-atomic-beam conversion efficiency is close to one.
We have produced and characterized an intense, slow, and highly collimated atomic beam extracted from a standard vapor cell magneto-optical trap (MOT). The technique used is dramatically simpler than previous methods for producing very cold atomic beams. We have created a 0.6 mm diameter rubidium atomic beam with a continuous flux of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{9}/\mathrm{s}$ and a pulsed flux 10 times greater. Its longitudinal velocity distribution is centered at 14 m/s with a FWHM of 2.7 m/s. Through an efficient recycling process, 70% of the atoms trapped in the MOT are loaded into the atomic beam.
We discuss the implementation and characterization of the source of a slow, intense, and collimated beam of rubidium atoms. The cold atomic beam is produced by two-dimensional magneto-optical trapping in directions transverse to the atomic beam axis and unbalanced Doppler cooling in the axial direction. The vacuum design allows use of relatively low laser power and a considerably simplified assembly. The atomic beam has a high flux of about $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}∕\mathrm{s}$ at a total cooling laser power of 55mW55\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mW}55mW. It has a narrow longitudinal velocity distribution with mean velocity 15m∕s15\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s}15m∕s with full width at half maximum 3.5m∕s3.5\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s}3.5m∕s and has a low divergence of 26mrad26\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mrad}26mrad. The high flux enables ultrafast loading of about 1010{10}^{10}1010 atoms into a three-dimensional (3D) magneto-optical trap within 500 ms. The variation of the atomic beam flux was studied as a function of the rubidium vapor pressure, cooling laser power, transverse cooling laser beam length, detuning of the cooling laser, and relative intensities of the cooling beams along the atomic beam axis. We also discuss a detailed comparison of our measurements of the cold atomic beam with a 3D numerical simulation.
We demonstrate an experimental setup for the production of a beam source of cold 87Rb atoms. The atoms are extracted from a trapped cold atomic cloud in an unbalanced three-dimensional magneto—optical trap. Via a radiation pressure difference generated by a specially designed leak tunnel along one trapping laser beam, the atoms are pushed out continuously with low velocities and a high flux. The most-probable velocity in the beam is varied from 9 m/s to 19 m/s by varying the detuning of the trapping laser beams in the magneto—optical trap and the flux can be tuned up to 4×109 s−1 by increasing the intensity of the trapping beams. We also present a simple model for describing the dependence of the beam performance on the magneto—optical trap trapping laser intensity and the detuning.
We have obtained and characterized a cold atomic beam produced by a simple conical atom funnel, which consists of a conical hollow mirror (axicon) with a small hole at the apex and a single incident laser beam. Atoms trapped in the axicon mirror are ejected by the radiation-pressure imbalance along the extraction column. The atomic beam has a longitudinal velocity in the range of 4 to 6 m/s, a divergence of 150 mrad, and a maximum instantaneous flux of $2.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10} \mathrm{atoms}/\mathrm{s}$ in a pulsed operation. The experimental results are in quantitative agreement with the numerical simulations. A continuous atomic beam is also possible with an apex hole smaller than the trapped atomic cloud.