https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050521
Evaporative cooling of an atomic beam
1
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France
2
INFM, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Received:
24
September
1999
Published online: 15 April 2000
We present a theoretical analysis of the evaporative cooling of an atomic beam propagating in a magnetic guide. Cooling is provided by transverse evaporation. The atomic dynamics inside the guide is analyzed by solving the Boltzmann equation with two different approaches: an approximate analytical ansatz and a Monte-Carlo simulation. Within their domain of validity, these two methods are found to be in very good agreement with each other. They allow us to determine how the phase-space density and the flux of the beam vary along its direction of propagation. We find a significant increase for the phase-space density along the guide for realistic experimental parameters. By extrapolation, we estimate the length of the beam needed to reach quantum degeneracy.
PACS: 05.30.Jp – Boson systems / 03.75.Fi – Phase coherent atomic ensembles; quantum condensation phenomena / 32.80.Pj – Optical cooling of atoms; trapping
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2000
