Abstract
We demonstrate an intense, continuous cold atomic beam generated via post-nozzle seeding of a supersonic jet with atoms. The nozzle is cooled to about 4.4 K to reduce the forward velocity of the atoms. The atomic beam is brought to a focus 176 cm from the nozzle by a 10 cm bore diameter magnetic hexapole lens. Absorption and fluorescence imaging of the focus show a flux of , brightness of , forward velocity of 211(2) m/s, and longitudinal temperature of 7(3) mK. Results agree with a Monte Carlo simulation of the seeding dynamics and a particle-tracing simulation of the atom lens. We predict that 10 times higher flux would be possible with improved vacuum system design. Our method should provide a useful high-brightness source for atom-optical and other atomic and molecular physics applications.
8 More- Received 23 August 2022
- Accepted 29 November 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.107.013302
©2023 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
synopsis
Cold-Atom Beams without Laser Cooling
Published 6 January 2023
Researchers demonstrate a way to produce a sub-10-mK beam of lithium atoms without using laser cooling, a result that could allow the exploration of the effects of novel quantum regimes.
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