Compact strontium atomic beam source based on a two-dimensional grating magneto-optical trap

We present a two-dimensional grating magneto-optical trap (2D gMOT) for strontium, which produces a slow atomic beam in a compact form factor. The strontium 2D gMOT, using permanent magnets with an atomic dispenser, cools and traps atoms along two dimensions in the diffraction plane of a grating chip using the <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mrow><a:msup><a:mi/><a:mn>1</a:mn></a:msup><a:msub><a:mi>S</a:mi><a:mn>0</a:mn></a:msub><a:mo stretchy="false">→</a:mo><a:mrow><a:msup><a:mi/><a:mn>1</a:mn></a:msup><a:msub><a:mi>P</a:mi><a:mn>1</a:mn></a:msub></a:mrow></a:mrow></a:math> (blue) transition. The system is configured in such a way that the atoms emitted from the dispenser source do not degrade the diffraction efficiency of the grating for long-term stable use. The performance of the 2D gMOT is analyzed with plug and probe beams, where the atomic source achieves a flux of <d:math xmlns:d="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><d:mn>2.1</d:mn><d:mo>×</d:mo><d:msup><d:mn>10</d:mn><d:mn>8</d:mn></d:msup></d:math> atoms/s and mean velocity of 6.4 m/s for an input laser power of 75 mW. The velocity measurement allows for the precise characterization of atom-photon scattering properties, showing that the compact 2D gMOT is suitable for portable quantum devices such as atomic clocks, quantum sensors, and precision spectroscopy.