An Adaptable Dual Species Effusive Source and Zeeman Slower Design Demonstrated with Rb and Li

Abstract

We present a dual-species effusive source and Zeeman slower designed to produce slow atomic beams of two elements with a large mass difference and with very different oven temperature requirements. We demonstrate this design for the case of $^6$Li and $^{85}$Rb and achieve MOT loading rates equivalent to that reported in prior work on dual species (Rb+Li) Zeeman slowers operating at the same oven temperatures. Key design choices, including thermally separating the effusive sources and using a segmented coil design to enable computer control of the magnetic field profile, ensure that the apparatus can be easily modified to slow other atomic species. By performing the final slowing using the quadruple magnetic field of the MOT, we are able to shorten our Zeeman slower length making for a more compact system without compromising performance. We outline the construction and analyze the emission properties of our effusive sources. We also verify the performance of the source and slower, and we observe sequential loading rates of $8 \times 10^8$ atoms/s for a Rb oven temperature of $120\,^{\circ}$C and $1.5 \times 10^8$ atoms/s for a Li reservoir at $450\,^{\circ}$C, corresponding to reservoir lifetimes for continuous operation of 10 and 4 years respectively.