Loading of a Rb magneto-optic trap from a getter source

We study the properties of a Rb magneto-optic trap loaded from a commercial getter source. The source provides a large flux of atoms for the trap along with the capability of rapid turn off necessary for obtaining long trap lifetimes. We have studied the trap loading at two different values of background pressure to determine the cross section for Rb-N₂ collisions to be 3.5(4)×10^-14cm² and that for Rb-Rb collisions to be of order 3×10^-13cm². At a background pressure of 1.3×10^-9 torr, we load more than 10⁸ atoms into the trap with a time constant of 3.3 s. The $1/e$ lifetime of trapped atoms is 13 s limited only by background collisions.