Measurement of vacuum pressure with a magneto-optical trap: A pressure-rise method

Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928154· OSTI ID:22482774

Moore, Rowan W. G.; Lee, Lucie A.; Findlay, Elizabeth A.; Torralbo-Campo, Lara; Bruce, Graham D.; Cassettari, Donatella ^[1]

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1. SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS (United Kingdom)

The lifetime of an atom trap is often limited by the presence of residual background gases in the vacuum chamber. This leads to the lifetime being inversely proportional to the pressure. Here, we use this dependence to estimate the pressure and to obtain pressure rate-of-rise curves, which are commonly used in vacuum science to evaluate the performance of a system. We observe different rates of pressure increase in response to different levels of outgassing in our system. Therefore, we suggest that this is a sensitive method which will find useful applications in cold atom systems, in particular, where the inclusion of a standard vacuum gauge is impractical.

• OSTI ID: 22482774
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 86, Issue 9; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ATOMS
DEGASSING
DIAGRAMS
GASES
LIFETIME
PERFORMANCE
TRAPS
VACUUM GAGES