Abstract
We report a cost-effective way to prepare high-flux slow ytterbium atoms with extremely low-power 399-nm light suitable for the production of quantum degenerate ytterbium gases. By collimating an atomic beam through an array of micro-capillary tubes, we obtain a bright atomic beam through the Zeeman slower operating at low light power of only 15 mW for the source. We achieve the loading rate of 2 × 107 s−1 into the intercombination magneto-optical trap (MOT) and a sufficient steady-state MOT atom number of 2 × 108 for 174Yb atoms. Our apparatus highlights an efficient method to obtain slow ytterbium atoms using a simple low-power 399-nm laser system.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Ting Sam Wong, Songhao Zhu and Kwan Hon for contributions to the experimental system. The work was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Project No. ECS26300014 and GRF16300215) and the Croucher Innovation Grants, respectively.
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Bo Song, Yueyang Zou, Shanchao Zhang have contribute equally to this work.
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Song, B., Zou, Y., Zhang, S. et al. A cost-effective high-flux source of cold ytterbium atoms. Appl. Phys. B 122, 250 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-016-6523-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-016-6523-8