Abstract
We study the properties of a Rb magneto-optic trap loaded from a commercial getter source. The source provides a large flux of atoms for the trap along with the capability of rapid turn off necessary for obtaining long trap lifetimes. We have studied the trap loading at two different values of background pressure to determine the cross section for collisions to be and that for Rb-Rb collisions to be of order . At a background pressure of torr, we load more than atoms into the trap with a time constant of 3.3 s. The lifetime of trapped atoms is 13 s limited only by background collisions.
- Received 12 February 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.64.023402
©2001 American Physical Society