Efficient generation of cold atoms towards a source for atom lithography

Abstract

We report on the efficient generation of cold rubidium atoms as a potential coherent atom source for atom lithography. We successfully trapped and cooled 2.6 × 108 atoms in 5 s with a conventional magneto-optical trap simply by enlarging the diameter of the laser beam to 20 mm. The size of the laser-cooled atom cloud was measured to be 10 × 7 × 7 mm3. The number of trapped atoms was approximately 10 times as large as that of previous typical results, while the loading time of atoms remained the same.