Realization of an intense cold Rb atomic beam based on a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap: Experiments and comparison with simulations

Journal Article · Tue Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.74.023406· OSTI ID:20853090

Chaudhuri, Saptarishi; Roy, Sanjukta; Unnikrishnan, C S ^[1]

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1. Fundamental Interactions Laboratory, Gravitation Group, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai-400005 (India)

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 2x10{sup 10} atoms/s at a total cooling laser power of 55 mW. It has a narrow longitudinal velocity distribution with mean velocity 15 m/s with full width at half maximum 3.5 m/s and has a low divergence of 26 mrad. The high flux enables ultrafast loading of about 10{sup 10} 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.

• OSTI ID: 20853090
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 74; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMIC BEAMS
ATOMS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOLING
DESIGN
DISTRIBUTION
LASER RADIATION
MAGNETO-OPTICAL EFFECTS
RADIATION PRESSURE
RUBIDIUM
TRAPPING
TRAPS
VAPOR PRESSURE
VARIATIONS