Highly Collimated Collinear Rb/Cs Dual-atom Beam Source

Abstract

We have designed a highly collimated collinear Rb/Cs atomic beam source device used in vacuum environment, which can be applied to both high-precision comparison measurement based on dual-atom system and dual clock. The developed device allows the separate heating of Rb and Cs atoms, and making the operation mode (Rb mode and/or Cs mode) selectable. During operation, Rb and/or Cs atoms are ejected from the same collimating channel, implying that the travelling paths of the two atomic beams overlap precisely. This is very useful and particularly important for dual-atom system, since the environment of the same temperature field and static magnetic field are achieved while the two atoms interact with microwaves. We will discuss the specific application in dual Rb/Cs beam clocks and demonstrate how the dual beam source works in our dual clock.