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An experimental apparatus for the laser cooling of lithium and rubidium

William Bowden

Published Jan 1, 2014• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a two species effusive source and Zeeman slower for lithium 6 and rubidium 85. The fluxes produced by this slower allow for magneto-optical trap loading rates in excess of 10⁸ atoms per second for both species. A detailed model is developed to predict the emission properties of the effusive source along with the flux of cold atoms produced by the slower. Novel to this design is the mating of Zeeman slower magnetic field to the field produced by trapping coils which increases the effective length over which atoms are slowed. This allows for a smaller, more compact slower, without a sacrifice in performance. Details relating to the design and performance of the vacuum system and magnetic field producing coils are also covered. The apparatus can be easily adapted to operate with different atomic species making it well suited for ultracold atomic physics experiments studying mixtures or as starting point for the creation of hetero-nuclear molecules.

DOI
10.14288/1.0167633

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We demonstrate a two species effusive source and Zeeman slower for lithium 6 and rubidium 85. The fluxes produced by this slower allow for magneto-optical trap loading rates in excess of 10⁸ atoms per second for both species. A detailed model is developed to predict the emission properties of the effusive source along with the flux of cold atoms produced by the slower. Novel to this design is the mating of Zeeman slower magnetic field to the field produced by trapping coils which increases the effective length over which atoms are slowed. This allows for a smaller, more compact slower, without a sacrifice in performance. Details relating to the design and performance of the vacuum system and magnetic field producing coils are also covered. The apparatus can be easily adapted to operate with different atomic species making it well suited for ultracold atomic physics experiments studying mixtures or as starting point for the creation of hetero-nuclear molecules.
We present a dual-species effusive source and Zeeman slower designed to produce slow atomic beams of two elements with a large mass difference and with very different oven temperature requirements. We demonstrate this design for the case of (6)Li and (85)Rb and achieve magneto-optical trap (MOT) loading rates equivalent to that reported in prior work on dual species (Rb+Li) Zeeman slowers operating at the same oven temperatures. Key design choices, including thermally separating the effusive sources and using a segmented coil design to enable computer control of the magnetic field profile, ensure that the apparatus can be easily modified to slow other atomic species. By performing the final slowing using the quadrupole magnetic field of the MOT, we are able to shorten our Zeeman slower length making for a more compact system without compromising performance. We outline the construction and analyze the emission properties of our effusive sources. We also verify the performance of the source and slower, and we observe sequential loading rates of 12 × 10(8) atoms/s for a Rb oven temperature of 140 °C and 1.1 × 10(8) atoms/s for a Li reservoir at 460 °C, corresponding to reservoir lifetimes for continuous operation of 10 and 4 years, respectively.
We report on a dual species laser cooling apparatus capable of collecting over 108 87Rb or 85Rb atoms from an atomic vapor or up to (8±2)×107 6Li atoms directly into a magneto-optic trap (MOT) from an effusive oven without the need for a Zeeman slower. The use of a miniature atomic oven placed close to the trapping region yields a compact vacuum system with a captured flux of more than 4×106 lithium atoms per second and a high quality vacuum in the 10−10 Torr range. The atomic sources, laser system, and vacuum system are described. In addition, we use this system to study atom loss from the MOT due to interspecies collisions between 6Li and 85Rb or 87Rb. We report for the first time the heteronuclear loss coefficients for 6Li-85Rb mixtures.
Integrating two chemically distinct atomic species into a miniaturized, high-flux cold-atom source is a key challenge for modern experiments with ultracold atomic mixtures and polar molecules. Here, we report a compact setup with in-series two-dimensional magneto-optical traps (2D MOTs) that provides high-flux cold lithium and rubidium atoms. Thanks to the efficient short-distance Zeeman slowing, the maximum 3D MOT loading rate of lithium atoms reaches a record value of 6.6 × 10 9 atoms/s at a moderate lithium-oven temperature of 372 degrees Celsius, which is 44 times higher than that without the Zeeman slowing light. The flux of rubidium is also as high as 2.3 × 10 9 atoms/s with the rubidium oven held at room temperature. Meanwhile, the entire vacuum-chamber system, including an ultra-high-vacuum science cell, is within a small volume of 65 × 55 × 70 cm 3 . Our work represents a substantial improvement over traditional bulky and complex dual-species cold-atom setups. It provides a good starting point for the fast production of a double-degenerate lithium-rubidium atomic mixture and large samples of ultracold lithium-rubidium ground-state molecules.
We describe an apparatus designed to trap and cool a Yb and Cs mixture. The apparatus consists of a dual species effusive oven source, dual species Zeeman slower, magneto-optical traps in a single ultra-high vacuum science chamber, and the associated laser systems. The dual species Zeeman slower is used to load sequentially the two species into their respective traps. Its design is flexible and may be adapted for other experiments with different mixtures of atomic species. The apparatus provides excellent optical access and can apply large magnetic bias fields to the trapped atoms. The apparatus regularly produces 10(8) Cs atoms at 13.3 μK in an optical molasses, and 10(9) (174)Y b atoms cooled to 22 μK in a narrowband magneto-optical trap.
Integrating two chemically distinct atomic species into a miniaturized, high-flux cold-atom source is a key challenge for modern experiments with ultracold atomic mixtures and polar molecules.Here, we report a compact setup with in-series two-dimensional magneto-optical traps (2D MOTs) that provides high-flux cold lithium and rubidium atoms.Thanks to the efficient short-distance Zeeman slowing, the maximum 3D MOT loading rate of lithium atoms reaches a record value of 6.6 × 10 9 atoms/s at a moderate lithium-oven temperature of 372 degrees Celsius, which is 44 times higher than that without the Zeeman slowing light.The flux of rubidium is also as high as 2.3 × 10 9 atoms/s with the rubidium oven held at room temperature.Meanwhile, the entire vacuum-chamber system, including an ultra-high-vacuum science cell, is within a small volume of 65 × 55 × 70 cm 3 .Our work represents a substantial improvement over traditional bulky and complex dual-species cold-atom setups.It provides a good starting point for the fast production of a double-degenerate lithium-rubidium atomic mixture and large samples of ultracold lithium-rubidium ground-state molecules.
We present a dual-species oven and Zeeman slower setup capable of producing slow, high-flux atomic beams for loading magneto-optical traps. Our compact and versatile system is based on electronic switching between different magnetic field profiles and is applicable to a wide range of multi-species experiments. We give details of the vacuum setup, coils, and simple electronic circuitry. In addition, we demonstrate the performance of our system by optimized, sequential loading of magneto-optical traps of lithium-6 and cesium-133.