An integrated high-flux cold atomic beam source for strontium

Jie Li; Zhi-Peng Jia; Peng Liu; Xiao-Yong Liu; De-Zhong Wang; De-Quan Kong; Su-Peng Li; Xing-Yang Cui; Han-Ning Dai; Yu-Ao Chen; Jian-Wei Pan

doi:10.1063/5.0162128

An integrated high-flux cold atomic beam source for strontium

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Sep 1;94(9):093202. doi: 10.1063/5.0162128.

Authors

Jie Li^{1

2}, Zhi-Peng Jia^{1

2}, Peng Liu^{2

3}, Xiao-Yong Liu^{1

2}, De-Zhong Wang^{1

2}, De-Quan Kong^{1

2}, Su-Peng Li^{1

2}, Xing-Yang Cui^{1

2

3}, Han-Ning Dai^{1

2

3}, Yu-Ao Chen^{1

2

3}, Jian-Wei Pan^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
² Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences and CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Shanghai 201315, China.
³ Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230088, China.

PMID: 37695113
DOI: 10.1063/5.0162128

Abstract

We present the design, construction, and characterization of an integrated cold atomic beam source for strontium (Sr), which is based on a compact Zeeman slower for slowing the thermal atomic beam and an atomic deflector for selecting the cold flux. By adopting arrays of permanent magnets to produce the magnetic fields of the slower and the deflector, we effectively reduce the system size and power compared to traditional systems with magnetic coils. After the slower cooling, one can employ additional transverse cooling in the radial direction and improve the atom collimation. The atomic deflectors employ two stages of two-dimensional magnetic-optical trapping (MOT) to deflect the cold flux, whose atomic speed is lower than 50 m/s, by 20° from the thermal atomic beam. We characterize the cold atomic beam flux of the source by measuring the loading rate of a three-dimensional MOT. The loading rates reach up to 109 atoms/s. The setup is compact, highly tunable, lightweight, and requires low electrical power, which addresses the challenge of reducing the complexity of building optical atomic clocks and quantum simulation devices based on Sr.