Design and construction of a high-precision atomic beam machine for quantum optics and atom optics experiments

We describe the design of an atomic beam machine for metastable helium atom s, optimized for quantum optics acid atom optics experiments. The setup pro duces a highly collimated, monochromatic (single axial velocity), and brigh t beam of metastable helium atoms. The beam, exiting from a liquid-nitrogen cooled discharge source, is: collimated using transverse laser cooling, Ze eman-slowed to an axial velocity between 100 and 300 m/s, prefocussed and f unneled by two separate 2-D magneto-optic traps. The (calculated) brightnes s of the final beam is 1.0 x 10(11) s(-1) mm(-2) mrad(-2) at an axial veloc ity v(ax) = 250 m/s. Special attention has been paid to the thermal stabili ty and vibration isolation of the setup and to a clean, hydrocarbon-free va cuum. The setup, which has been constructed and is presently undergoing tes ting, will be used for a variety of cavity QED and atom interferometry expe riments, The first experiments which will be performed in the setup are pho ton number measurements in a high-finesse optical cavity and quantum tomogr aphy of atomic (motional) wave-packets. Another application, which we descr ibe here in some detail, is the study of a new type of continuously pumped single-atom laser, operating in the quantized cavity field regime. The syst em constitutes a true inversionless, two-level, single-atom laser Its opera tion is based on the asymmetry between absorption and stimulated emission i n a quantized field.