Fast and High-Yield Loading of a D$_2$ MOT of Potassium from a Cryogenic Buffer Gas Beam

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for efficiently loading a large number of potassium-39 atoms into a magneto-optical trap directly from a cryogenic buffer gas beam, enabling high-density ultracold atom experiments at high repetition rates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel technique for direct loading of a D$_2$ MOT from a cryogenic buffer gas beam, achieving high atom numbers and densities without sub-Doppler cooling or compression.

Findings

Loaded $10^8$ atoms in 10 ms pulse

Maintained performance at 10 Hz repetition rate

Achieved densities of $ ext{~}10^{11}$ atoms/cm$^3$

Abstract

We demonstrate the direct loading of a D$_2$ MOT of potassium-39 atoms from a cryogenic buffer gas beam source. We load $10^8$ atoms in a 10 ms pulse, with no degradation in performance up to a 10 Hz repetition rate. Observed densities reach $\sim10^{11}$ atoms/cm$^3$ in a single pulse, achieved with no sub-Doppler cooling or transverse compression. This system produces an ideal starting point for ultracold atom experiments where high experimental repetition rates are desirable and initial high densities are critical. Extension to other atomic species (e.g., refractory metals) that present technical challenges to high-yield production using oven-based sources is straightforward.