Abstract
We have built a Zeeman-slower apparatus which produces a slow and cold cesium atomic beam. The atomic beam has a mean velocity in the range 35–120 m/s and a high atomic current of more than cold atoms/s. A small longitudinal velocity spread was achieved by optimizing the termination of the slowing process. The measured value of less than 1 m/s is consistent with a numerical simulation of the slowing process. With a magnetic lens and a tilted two-dimensional optical molasses stage, the slow atomic beam is transversely compressed, collimated, and deflected. We achieve a transverse temperature below the Doppler limit. The brilliance of this beam has been determined to be atoms By optical pumping the slow atomic beam can be polarized in the outermost magnetic substates of the cesium ground state. This brilliant beam is an ideal source for experiments in atom optics and atom lithography.
- Received 9 April 1999
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.61.013405
©1999 American Physical Society