2-DIMENSIONAL MAGNETOOPTICAL TRAP AS A SOURCE OF SLOW ATOMS

We experimentally study the use of two-dimensional magneto-optical tra pping (2D-MOT) for the generation of slow beams of cold atoms out of a vapor cell. A particularly high flux of 9 x 10(9) rubidium atoms/s at a mean velocity of 8 m/s is obtained using a combination of magneto-o ptical trapping in two dimensions and Doppler cooling in the third dim ension (2D(+)-MOT). The resulting width of the velocity distribution i s 3.3 m/s [full width at half maximum (FWHM)] with a beam divergence o f 43 mrad (FWHM). We investigate the total flux as a function of vapor cell pressure and determine the velocity distribution of our slow ato m sources. For comparison, we also realized a low-velocity intense sou rce (LVIS), first reported by Lu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3331 (19 96)]. We find that the 2D(+)-MOT yields a significantly higher flux th an the LVIS, even when used with an order of magnitude less laser powe r. [S1050-2947(98)04311-X].