Zeeman Slowers for Strontium based on Permanent Magnets

Abstract

We present the design, construction, and characterisation of longitudinal- and transverse-field Zeeman slowers, based on arrays of permanent magnets, for slowing thermal beams of atomic Sr. The slowers are optimised for operation with deceleration related to the local laser intensity (by the parameter $\epsilon$), which uses more effectively the available laser power, in contrast to the usual constant deceleration mode. Slowing efficiencies of up to $\approx$ $18$ are realised and compared to those predicted by modelling. We highlight the transverse-field slower, which is compact, highly tunable, light-weight, and requires no electrical power, as a simple solution to slowing Sr, well-suited to spaceborne application. For ${}^{88}$Sr we achieve a slow-atom flux of around $6\times 10^9$ atomss${}^{-1}$ at $30$ ms${}^{-1}$, loading approximately $5\times 10^8$ atoms in to a magneto-optical-trap (MOT), and capture all isotopes in approximate relative natural abundances.

References in corpus (10)

• Quantum computing with alkaline earth atoms
• Precision measurement of gravity with cold atoms in an optical lattice and comparison with a classical gravimeter
• Nuclear Spin Effects in Optical Lattice Clocks
• The absolute frequency of the 87Sr optical clock transition
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• Prospects for application of ultracold Sr${}_2$ molecules in precision measurements
• A Zeeman Slower based on magnetic dipoles

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• A versatile dual-species Zeeman slower for caesium and ytterbium
• A robust, high-flux source of laser-cooled ytterbium atoms
• Development of a strontium optical lattice clock for the SOC mission on the ISS
• An Adaptable Dual Species Effusive Source and Zeeman Slower Design Demonstrated with Rb and Li
• Detailed study of a transverse field Zeeman slower
• Zeeman slowing of a Group III atom
• Two-color Ytterbium MOT in a compact dual-chamber setup
• Direct loading of a Sr magneto-optical trap from a thermal atomic beam
• Permanent magnet based Zeeman slower for lithium atoms
• Efficient water-cooled Bitter-type electromagnet for Zeeman slowing in cold-atom experiments