Light-Induced Atomic Desorption for loading a Sodium Magneto-Optical Trap
Abstract
We report studies of photon-stimulated desorption (PSD), also known as light-induced atomic desorption(LIAD), of sodium atoms from a vacuum cell glass surface used for loading a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Fluorescence detection was used to record the trapped atom number and the desorption rate. We observed a steep wavelength dependence of the desorption process above 2.6 eV photon energy, a result significant for estimations of sodium vapor density in the lunar atmosphere. Our data fit well to a simple model for the loading of the MOT dependent only on the sodium desorption rate and residual gas density. Up to 3.7x10^7 Na atoms were confined under ultra-high vacuum conditions, creating promising loading conditions for a vapor cell based atomic Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0911.0957,
title = {Light-Induced Atomic Desorption for loading a Sodium Magneto-Optical Trap},
author = {Gustavo Telles and Tetsuya Ishikawa and Matthew Gibbs and Chandra Raman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.0957},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
Sodium LIAD loaded MOT, 7 pages, 5 figures. Revised submitted manuscript with minor corrections, new data presented, Fig.5 changed