Abstract
We present a detachable, cascaded modular cesium loading source based on a 2D
magneto-optical trap (MOT). Our design utilizes only a single beam of
mixed cooling and repumping light that is split evenly into five
discrete trapping regions, each with horizontal and vertical beams.
The pre-aligned, single-beam design makes our module suitable for
miniaturization. The generated cold atomic beam serves to load a 3D
MOT, whose loading rate we use to characterize the efficiency of our
design. The effect of individual trapping regions relative to the
differential tube and to each other on the loading rate has also been
examined. Experimental results were compared with a numerical
simulation. We are able to obtain an experimental loading rate of
nearly 8×107atoms/s and a vapor density of about 3×1015atoms/m3 in our 2D MOT module.