Loading of a Rb magneto-optic trap from a getter source - art. no. 023402

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 alon g with the capability of rapid turn off necessary for obtaining long trap l ifetimes. We have studied the trap loading at two different values of backg round pressure to determine the cross section for Rb-N-2 collisions to be 3 .5(4) x 10(-14) cm(2) and that for Rb-Rb collisions to be of order 3 x 10(- 13) cm(2). At a background pressure of 1.3 x 10(-9) torr, we load more than 10(8) atoms into the trap with a time constant of 3.3 s. The l/e lifetime of trapped atoms is 13 s limited only by background collisions.