High-flux two-dimensional magneto-optical-trap source for cold lithium atoms

摘要

We demonstrate a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT) as a beam source for cold 6Li atoms.The source is side loaded from an oven operated at temperatures in the range 600 rs 700 K. The perfor-mance is analyzed by loading the atoms into a three-dimensional MOT located 220 mm downstream from thesource. The maximum recapture rate of —109 s-/ is obtained for T— 700 K and results in a total of up to 1010trapped atoms. The recaptured fraction is estimated to be 30 ± 10% and limited by beam divergence. Themost-probable velocity in the beam (as) is varied from 18 to 70 m/s by increasing the intensity of a push beam.The source is quite monochromatic with a full width at half maximum velocity spread of 11 m/s at a,=36 m/s, demonstrating that side loading completely eliminates beam contamination by hot vapor from theoven. We identify depletion of the low-velocity tail of the oven flux as the limiting loss mechanism. Ourapproach is suitable for other atomic species.