Loading of a large Yb MOT on the $^1$S$_0$-$^1$P$_1$ transition

TL;DR

This paper details an experimental setup for laser cooling and trapping a large number of Ytterbium atoms using a novel oven design and a magneto-optical trap on a specific transition, achieving up to 10^9 atoms.

Contribution

The study introduces a new oven design with microtubes and demonstrates large-scale Ytterbium atom trapping without a Zeeman slower.

Findings

Trapped up to 10^9 Ytterbium atoms.

Characterized atomic beam and trap loading rate.

Analyzed loss mechanisms affecting large atom numbers.

Abstract

We present an experimental setup to laser cool and trap a large number of Ytterbium atoms. Our design uses an oven with an array of microtubes for efficient collimation of the atomic beam and we implement a magneto-optical trap of $^{174}$Yb on the $^1$S$_0$-$^1$P$_1$ transition at 399nm. Despite the absence of a Zeeman slower, we are able to trap up to $N = 10^9$ atoms. We precisely characterize our atomic beam, the loading rate of the magneto-optical trap and several loss mechanisms relevant for trapping a large number of atoms.