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Production of a slow, monoenergetic metastable neon beam for atom diffraction studies

Andrew Palmer, Joshua P. Beardmore, Timothy John Hourigan, Mark A. Baker, Robert T. Sang

Published Jan 1, 2006• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We present characterization results from a series of atom-optical elements designed to produce a slow, monochromatic metastable neon atomic beam source.These elements include a two dimensional optical collimator, a Zeeman slower and a hexapole magnetic bender.The beam will be diffracted from various gratings for studies of the van der Waals forces governing atom-surface interactions.

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Metastable argon atoms Ar*(3P2), produced by electron bombardment of a nozzle beam of ground state Ar atoms, are slowed down from their initial thermal velocity of 560 m/s down to a few tens of m/s, using a standard Zeeman slower. In this decelerator, a repulsive force is induced by a counter-propagating σ+- polarized laser beam, locked in frequency on the3P2-3D3closed transition (λ= 811.5 nm) and then detuned by 340 MHz. A special profile of longitudinal magnetic field is adjusted in order to maintain atoms in resonance with light all over the device, by compensating the variable Doppler shift by the convenient Zeeman shift. Low velocities, e.g. 55 m/s, are accessible but due to spontaneous emission randomly distributed recoil momentums enlarge both angular and velocity distributions of the beam. Nevertheless, by placing off axis collimating slits and grating, it is in principle possible to observe transmission and/or diffraction phenomena specific of low velocities.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•May 1, 2011•0 citations
We present characterization results from a series of atom-optical elements designed to produce a slow, monochromatic metastable neon atomic beam source.These elements include a two dimensional optical collimator, a Zeeman slower and a hexapole magnetic bender.The beam will be diffracted from various gratings for studies of the van der Waals forces governing atom-surface interactions.
A high flux metastable Neon atomic beam was designed and characterised. Atom optical enhancement of the beam using a two-dimensional optical collimator, novel two beam Zeeman slower and hexapole magnetic guide was performed to produce a UV-free metastable flux of (4.35 x 109 ± 4 x 107) atoms s−1. Investigations of several resists for neutral atom lithography were undertaken. A quantitative investigation of the wetting properties of ethanethiol (ET) and dodecanethiol (DDT) self-assembled monolayers (SAM's) exposed to various metastable dosages was carried out. A mechanism for the poor lithographic patterning using ET was proposed and the negative contrast patterning observed for this SAM was similar to those observed for bare gold substrates and were attributed to mechanical pump oil (MPO) contamination resists. Negative patterned resists were used to produce 7.5 μm iron dots on a silicon substrate via neutral atom lithography. This scheme was found to be very robust and free from the laser cooling issues of alternative direct depositional schemes. Numerical simulations have shown that two dimensional arrays of magnetic nanodots may be produced this way, paving the way for a magnetic storage option with a density of " 0.1 Gbit mm−2.
Coherent atom optics experiments making use of an ultra‐narrow beam of fast metastable atoms generated by metastability exchange are reported. The transverse coherence of the beam (coherence radius of 1.7 μm for He*, 1.2 μm for Ne*, 0.87 μm for Ar*) is demonstrated via the atomic diffraction by a non‐magnetic 2μm‐period reflection grating. The combination of the non‐scalar van der Waals (vdW) interaction with the Zeeman interaction generated by a static magnetic field gives rise to “vdW‐Zeeman” transitions among Zeeman sub‐levels. Exo‐energetic transitions of this type are observed with Ne*(3P2) atoms traversing a copper micro‐slit grating. They can be used as a tunable beam splitter in an inelastic Fresnel bi‐prism atom interferometer.
The resonant metastability-exchange process is used to obtain a metastable atom beam with intrinsic properties close to those of a ground-state atom nozzle beam (small angular aperture, narrow velocity distribution). The estimated effective source diameter (15 µm) is small enough to provide at a distance of 597 mm a transverse coherence radius of about 873 nm for argon, 1236 nm for neon and 1660 nm for helium. It is demonstrated both by experiment and numerical calculations with He*, Ne* and Ar* metastable atoms, that this beam gives rise to diffraction effects on the transmitted angular pattern of a silicon-nitride nano-slit grating (period 100 nm). Observed patterns are in good agreement with previous measurements with He* and Ne* metastable atoms. For argon, a calculation taking into account the angular aperture of the beam (0.35 mrad) and the effect of the van der Waals interaction—the van der Waals constant C 3 = 1.83 +0.1 −0.15 au being derived from spectroscopic data—leads to a good agreement with experiment.
This thesis presents an in-depth study into the characterization and enhancement of a metastable neon laser cooled and trapped atomic beam. The apparatus consists of a standard Zeeman slowed atomic beam loaded into a magneto-optical trap and was designed for applications to electron scattering experiments and photoionization. The efficiency of the metastable neon atomic source was investigated to determine the ideal cathode type for maximum metastable production and optimal atomic beam velocity haracteristics. A series of characterization measurements were performed on the MOT, and the trap volume and population were investigated for a range of trapping and slowing laser intensities and detunings, together with the MOT and Zeeman slower magnetic fields. The volume measurements were compared to standard Doppler theory and it was found that the Doppler model inadequately explained the trap behaviour. It was found that the MOT population characteristics were governed by two processes: two-body losses that limit the trap population at high densities, and the efficiency of the atom capture process which limits the operational range of the MOT over the various parameters. The trap temperature was determined to be 1.3mK via a time-of-flight technique. This was nearly twice that predicted by Doppler theory and the lack of agreement once again suggests the inadequacies in the Doppler theory to correctly model the experiment. The application of the MOT to the photoionization cross-section measurement of the (2p53p)3D3 state of neon was investigated. The MOT decay technique was utilized to measure cross-section values of o351 = 2.9+0.2 -0.3 x 10 -18cm2 and o363 = 3.1 +0.3 -0.4 x 10-18cm2 at the wavelengths of 351nm and 363nm respectively. This is an increase in accuracy of around a factor of five from previous measurements and it was found that the results agreed well with the values predicted by current theories.
This dissertation presents progress on an atomic beam brightening and focusing experiment that has been shown to create a beam with higher brightness and greater resolution than that of any previous atomic focusing experiment. Our method of beam brightening relies upon using a permanent magnetic hexapole as a lens in conjunction with transverse laser cooling to focus and collimate a supersonic beam of metastable neon atoms. We then use an adjustable electromagnetic hexapole as a lens to focus the brightened atomic beam. Neutral atom beams have long been used as a tool to spectroscopically probe two dimensional surfaces, however the lack of a means to create bright, high-resolution neutral atom beams has limited their utility as a nanoscale resolution probing mechanism. While optical and electron microscopy have been the workhorses of microscopy for decades, we believe that our scheme for beam brightening and focusing will unleash the promise of neutral atom microscopy. Our scheme of beam brightening and focusing can be repeated in series and reveals a pathway to true high density nanoscale neutral atom focusing. Simulations suggest that when combined with aberration correction, our scheme will be able to produce an atomic beam with sufficient brightness and resolution to be useful as a surface sensitive nanoscale probe.
Metastable argon atoms Ar*(3P2), produced by electron bombardment of a nozzle beam of ground state Ar atoms, are slowed down from their initial thermal velocity of 560 m/s down to a few tens of m/s, using a standard Zeeman slower. In this decelerator, a repulsive force is induced by a counter-propagating σ+- polarized laser beam, locked in frequency on the3P2-3D3closed transition (λ= 811.5 nm) and then detuned by 340 MHz. A special profile of longitudinal magnetic field is adjusted in order to maintain atoms in resonance with light all over the device, by compensating the variable Doppler shift by the convenient Zeeman shift. Low velocities, e.g. 55 m/s, are accessible but due to spontaneous emission randomly distributed recoil momentums enlarge both angular and velocity distributions of the beam. Nevertheless, by placing off axis collimating slits and grating, it is in principle possible to observe transmission and/or diffraction phenomena specific of low velocities.