Effusive atomic oven nozzle design using an aligned microcapillary array

Abstract

We present a simple and inexpensive design for a multichannel effusive oven nozzle which provides improved atomic beam collimation and thus extended oven lifetimes. Using this design, we demonstrate an atomic lithium source suitable for trapped-atom experiments. At a nozzle temperature of 525 °C, the collimated atomic beam flux directly after the nozzle is 1.2 × 1014 atoms/s with a peak beam intensity greater than 5.0 × 1016 atoms/s/sr. This suggests an oven lifetime of several decades of continuous operation.