Isotope separation using tuned laser and electron beam

The apparatus comprises means for producing an atomic beam containing the isotope of interest and other isotopes. Means are provided for producing a magnetic field traversing the path of the atomic beam of an intensity sufficient to broaden the energy domain of the various individual magnetic sublevels of the isotope of interest and having the atomic beam passing therethrough. A laser beam is produced of a frequency and polarization selected to maximize the activation of only individual magnetic sublevels of the isotope of interest with the portion of its broadened energy domain most removed from other isotopes with the stream. The laser beam is directed so as to strike the atomic beam within the magnetic field and traverse the path of the atomic beam whereby only the isotope of interest is activated by the laser beam. The apparatus further includes means for producing a collimated and high intensity beam of electrons of narrow energy distribution within the magnetic field which is aimed so as to strike the atomic beam while the atomic beam is simultaneously struck by the laser beam and at an energy level selected to ionize the activated isotope of interest but not ground state species included therewith. Deflection means are disposed in the usual manner to collect the ions

A slow and dark atomic beam

We demonstrate a method to produce a very slow atomic beam from a vapour cell magneto-optical trap. Atoms are extracted from the trap using the radiation pressure imbalance caused by a push beam. An additional transfer beam placed near the center of the trap transfers the atomic beam into an off-resonant state. The velocity of the atomic beam has been varied by changing the intensity of the push beam or the position of the transfer beam. The method can be used to generate a continuous, magnetically guided atomic beam in a dark state.Comment: 14 page

Effect of atomic beam alignment on photon correlation measurements in cavity QED

Quantum trajectory simulations of a cavity QED system comprising an atomic beam traversing a standing-wave cavity are carried out. The delayed photon coincident rate for forwards scattering is computed and compared with the measurements of Rempe et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1727 (1991)] and Foster et al. [Phys. Rev. A 61, 053821 (2000)]. It is shown that a moderate atomic beam misalignment can account for the degradation of the predicted correlation. Fits to the experimental data are made in the weak-field limit with a single adjustable parameter--the atomic beam tilt from perpendicular to the cavity axis. Departures of the measurement conditions from the weak-field limit are discussed.Comment: 15 pages and 13 figure

A High Flux Source of Cold Rubidium

We report the production of a continuous, slow, and cold beam of 87-Rb atoms with an unprecedented flux of 3.2 x 10^12 atoms/s and a temperature of a few milliKelvin. Hot atoms are emitted from a Rb candlestick atomic beam source and transversely cooled and collimated by a 20 cm long atomic collimator section, augmenting overall beam flux by a factor of 50. The atomic beam is then decelerated and longitudinally cooled by Zeeman slowing

Evaporative cooling of an atomic beam

We present a theoretical analysis of the evaporative cooling of an atomic beam propagating in a magnetic guide. Cooling is provided by transverse evaporation. The atomic dynamics inside the guide is analyzed by solving the Boltzmann equation with two different approaches: an approximate analytical ansatz and a Monte-Carlo simulation. Within their domain of validity, these two methods are found to be in very good agreement with each other. They allow us to determine how the phase-space density and the flux of the beam vary along its direction of propagation. We find a significant increase for the phase-space density along the guide for realistic experimental parameters. By extrapolation, we estimate the length of the beam needed to reach quantum degeneracy.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, to be published in EPJ D, revised versio

Transverse laser cooling of a thermal atomic beam of dysprosium

A thermal atomic beam of dysprosium (Dy) atoms is cooled using the $4f^{10}6s^2 (J=8) \to 4f^{10}6s6p (J=9)$ transition at 421 nm. The cooling is done via a standing light wave orthogonal to the atomic beam. Efficient transverse cooling to the Doppler limit is demonstrated for all observable isotopes of dysprosium. Branching ratios to metastable states are demonstrated to be $<5\times10^{-4}$. A scheme for enhancement of the nonzero-nuclear-spin-isotope cooling, as well as a method for direct identification of possible trap states, is proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures v2: 7 pages, 7 figure

Entwicklung eines universellen Lambshift-Polarimeters für polarisierte Atomstrahl-Targets wie an ANKE/COSY

Since 1994 a Lamb-shift polarimeter (LSP) for the fast and precise measurement of the polarization of an atomic beam was designed, built and tested at the Institut für Kernphysik of the Universität zu Köln. This universal polarimeter can be used to develop a atomic beam polarized ion source (like for the Cologne SAPIS project) or to measure the polarization of atomic beam targets (jet or storage cell targets, e.g. at COSY-Jülich). This Lamb-shift polarimeter was tested with an unpolarized beam of protons and deuterons at Cologne and, since the beginning of 2001, at the Forschungszentrum (FZ) Jülich with the polarized atomic hydrogen and deuterium beams from the atomic beam source of the polarized gas target at ANKE ($\textbf{A}$pparatus for $\textbf{N}$ucleon and $\textbf{K}$aon $\textbf{E}$jectiles). This polarized intemal storage-cell gas target will be used in the storage ring COSY ($\textbf{Co}$oler \Sy}nchrotron) in 2003. The polarimeter is based an measuring the ratios of Lyman-$\alpha$ transition intensities after Stark quenching of spinfilter selected Zeeman hyperfine states. The nuclear polarization of the atomic beam is deduced by applying the product of several correction factors calculated from known effects. The total correction amounts to between 1.1 and 1.2 depending an the occupation numbers of the hyperfine states. The nuclear polarization of atomic beams of hydrogen and deuterium is determined with an accuracy of $\le$ 1% within a few seconds for beams of $\sim$ 3 $\cdot$ 10$^{16}$ atoms/s in one hyperfine state. Its error is dominated by the systematic errors of the various correction factors and will be lowered to $\approx$ 0.5% using a recently developed new ionizer. The sensitivity of the polarimeter is such that even for a beam intensity reduced to 10% the polarization could be determined reliably. The new ionizer will lower this sensitivity limit to $\le$ 3%. With this sensitivity it appears feasible to measure the polarization in the planned storage cell of ANKE by extracting a small fraction of the atoms. In addition to these studies of the (de)polarization in a storage cell plans are to study the polarization and fraction of recombined molecules H$_{2}$ and especially D$_{2}$ in such a cell (CELGAS project). At Cologne the LSP will be used to develop the atomic beam source for the SAPIS project ($\textbf{S}$tored $\textbf{A}$toms $\textbf{P}$ulsed $\textbf{I}$on $\textbf{S}$ource). The LSP offers itself as a very good instrument for all polarized gas target installations at storage rings