Abstract

We generate a bright atomic beam containing laser-cooled rubidium and cesium, and we use this beam to load a mixed-species ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) magneto-optical trap. We have characterized our two-species atomic beam over a range of operating conditions, and we obtain similar atom fluxes for each species. Within the UHV trap, interspecies inelastic collisions are observed in the form of enhanced decay rates of a given species in the presence of a second trapped species. We analyze the trap decays to obtain a loss rate due to heteronuclear cold collisions, and we compare our result to similar measurements in vapor-cell traps [Phys. Rev. A 63, 033406 (2001)].

© 2004 Optical Society of America

Generation of an intense cold-atom beam from a pyramidal magneto-optical trap: experiment and simulation

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Velocity-tunable magneto-optical-trap-based cold Cs atomic beam

He Wang and Walter F. Buell
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 20(10) 2025-2030 (2003)