An Atomic Beam of Titanium for Ultracold Atom Experiments

Abstract

We generate an atomic beam of titanium (Ti) using a "Ti-ball" Ti-sublimation pump, which is a common getter pump used in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) systems. We show that the sublimated atomic beam can be optically pumped into the metastable $3d^3{(}^{4}F)4s$ $a^5{F}_5$ state, which is the lower energy level in a nearly cycling optical transition that can be used for laser cooling. We measure the atomic density and transverse and longitudinal velocity distributions of the beam through laser fluorescence spectroscopy. We find a metastable atomic flux density of $4.3(2)\times 10^9$s${}^{-1}$cm${}^{-2}$ with mean forward velocity $773(8)$m/s at $2.55$cm directly downstream of the center of the Ti-ball. Owing to the details of optical pumping, the beam is highly collimated along the transverse axis parallel to the optical pumping beam and the flux density falls off as $1/r$. We discuss how this source can be used to load atoms into a magneto-optical trap.

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• A Magneto-Optical Trap of Titanium Atoms
• Experimental Scheme for Polarizing the Boron Nuclei
• Hyperfine spectroscopy and laser cooling of the fermionic isotopes ${}^{47}$Ti and ${}^{49}$Ti
• Room temperature buffer gas beam of metastable state titanium atoms