A compact and highly collimated atomic/molecular beam source

Geetika Bhardwaj; Saurabh Kumar Singh; Pranav R Shirhatti

doi:10.1063/5.0145956

A compact and highly collimated atomic/molecular beam source

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Apr 1;94(4):043305. doi: 10.1063/5.0145956.

Authors

Geetika Bhardwaj¹, Saurabh Kumar Singh¹, Pranav R Shirhatti¹

Affiliation

¹ Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Hyderabad, 36/P Gopanpally, Hyderabad 500046, Telangana, India.

PMID: 38081241
DOI: 10.1063/5.0145956

Abstract

We describe the design, characterization, and application of a simple, highly collimated, and compact atomic/molecular beam source. This source is based on a segmented capillary design, constructed using a syringe needle. Angular width measurements and free molecular flow simulations show that the segmented structure effectively suppresses atoms traveling in off-axis directions, resulting in a narrow beam of Helium atoms having a width of 7 mrad (full width half maximum). We demonstrate an application of this source by using it for monitoring real-time changes in surface coverage on a clean Cu(110) surface exposed to oxygen by measuring the specular reflectivity of the Helium beam generated using this source.