An efficient magneto-optical trap of metastable krypton atoms

• Published in: Review of scientific instruments 2010-12, Vol.81 (12), p.123106-123106-3
• Main Authors: Cheng, C.-F., Jiang, W., Yang, G.-M., Sun, Y.-R., Pan, H., Gao, Y., Liu, A.-W., Hu, S.-M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0034-6748; 1089-7623
• DOI: 10.1063/1.3520133

We report a magneto-optical trap of metastable krypton atoms with a trap loading rate of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$3\times 10^{11}$\end{document} 3 × 10 11 atoms/s and a trap capture efficiency of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$3\times 10^{-5}$\end{document} 3 × 10 − 5 . The system starts with an atomic beam of metastable krypton produced in a liquid-nitrogen cooled, radio-frequency driven discharge. The metastable beam flux emerging from the discharge is \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$1.5\times 10^{14}$\end{document} 1.5 × 10 14 atoms/s/sr. The flux in the forward direction is enhanced by a factor of 156 with transverse laser cooling. The atoms are then slowed inside a Zeeman slower before captured by a magneto-optic trap. The trap efficiency can be further improved, possibly to the \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$10^{-2}$\end{document} 10 − 2 level, by gas recirculation. Such an atom trap is useful in trace analysis applications where available sample size is limited.