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Review of Scientific Instruments

An integrated high-flux cold atomic beam source for strontium

Jie Li, Zhi-Peng Jia, Peng Liu, Xiaoyong Liu, Dezhong Wang, De-Quan Kong, S.-M. Li, Xing-Yang Cui, Han-Ning Dai, Yu-Ao Chen, Jian-Wei Pan

Published Sep 1, 2023• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1063/5.0162128

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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.
We report on the design and characterization of a cold atom source for strontium (Sr) based on a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT) that is directly loaded from the atom jet of a dispenser. We characterize the atom flux of the source by measuring the loading rate of a three-dimensional MOT. We find loading rates of up to 108 atoms per second. The setup is compact, easy to construct, and has low power consumption. It addresses the longstanding challenge of reducing the complexity of cold beam sources for Sr, which is relevant for optical atomic clocks, quantum simulation, and computing devices based on ultracold Sr.
We present the design, construction, and characterization of longitudinal- and transverse-field Zeeman slowers, based on arrays of permanent magnets, for slowing thermal beams of atomic Sr. The slowers are optimized for operation with deceleration related to the local laser intensity (by the parameter ), which uses more effectively the available laser power, in contrast to the usual constant deceleration mode. Slowing efficiencies of up to ≈18% are realized and compared to those predicted by modelling. We highlight the transverse-field slower, which is compact, highly tunable, light-weight, and requires no electrical power, as a simple solution to slowing Sr, well-suited to space-borne application. For 88 Sr we achieve a slow-atom flux of around 6 × 10 9 atoms s −1 at 30 ms −1 , loading approximately 5 × 10 8 atoms in to a magneto-optical-trap, and capture all isotopes in approximate relative natural abundances.
Abstract We present a novel cold strontium atom source designed for quantum sensors. We optimized the deceleration process to capture a large velocity class of atoms emitted from an oven and achieved a compact and low-power setup capable of generating a high atomic flux. Our approach involves velocity-dependent transverse capture of atoms using a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap. To enhance the atomic flux, we employ tailored magnetic fields that minimize radial beam expansion and incorporate a cascaded Zeeman-slowing configuration utilizing two optical frequencies. The performance is comparable to that of conventional Zeeman slower sources, and the scheme is applicable to other atomic species. Our results represent a significant advancement towards the deployment of portable and, possibly, space-based cold atom sensors.
We demonstrate direct loading of a strontium (Sr) magneto-optical trap (MOT) from a thermal atomic beam in a single-chamber vacuum system. The MOT operates without a Zeeman slower, a slowing laser, a two-dimensional MOT, or differential pumping, while the entire system is maintained in the ultra-high-vacuum regime by a single ion pump. At an oven temperature of 395 °C, the MOT captures up to 107 88Sr atoms with a loading rate of 107 atoms s-1, while sustaining a background gas pressure of 1 × 10-9 Torr. At this oven temperature, the MOT lifetime limited by collisions with background gas is ∼5s, with the atom number primarily constrained by light-assisted two-body collisions. Eliminating differential pumping and precooling stages significantly reduces the system's size, weight, and power requirements, providing a robust and practical platform for field-deployable and spaceborne optical lattice clocks, as well as a variety of other applications requiring compact ultracold atom sources.
We present a compact design of dual-beam Zeeman slower optimized for efficient production of cold atom applications. Traditional single-beam configurations face challenges from substantial residual atomic flux impacting downstream optical windows, resulting in increased system size, atomic deposition contamination, and a reduced operational lifetime. Our approach employs two oblique laser beams and a capillary-array collimation system to address these challenges while maintaining efficient deceleration. For rubidium (87^{87}87Rb), simulations demonstrate a significant increase in the fraction of atoms captured by a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D-MOT) and nearly eliminate atom-induced contamination probability at optical windows, all within a compact Zeeman slower length of 44 cm. Experimental validation with Rb and Yb demonstrates highly efficient atomic loading within the same compact design. This advancement represents a substantial improvement for high-flux cold atom applications, providing reliable performance for high-precision metrology, quantum computation and simulation.
We report on the realization of a transversely loaded two-dimensional magneto-optical trap serving as a source for cold strontium atoms. We analyze the dependence of the source's properties on various parameters, in particular the intensity of a pushing beam accelerating the atoms out of the source. An atomic flux exceeding 109atoms/s{10}^{9}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/\mathrm{s}109atoms/s at a rather moderate oven temperature of $500{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}\mathrm{C}$ is achieved. The longitudinal velocity of the atomic beam can be tuned over several tens of m/s by adjusting the power of the pushing laser beam. The beam divergence is around 60 mrad, determined by the transverse velocity distribution of the cold atoms. The slow atom source is used to load a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap realizing loading rates up to 109atoms/s{10}^{9}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/\mathrm{s}109atoms/s without indication of saturation of the loading rate for increasing oven temperature. The compact setup avoids undesired effects found in alternative sources like, e.g., Zeeman slowers, such as vacuum contamination and black-body radiation due to the hot strontium oven.