David Glenn

High-Flux Beam Source for Cold, Slow Atoms or Molecules

We demonstrate and characterize a high-flux beam source for cold, slow atoms or molecules. The desired species is vaporized using laser ablation, then cooled by thermalization in a cryogenic cell of buffer gas. The beam is formed by particles exiting a hole in the buffer gas cell. We characterize the properties of the beam (flux, forward velocity, temperature) for both an atom (Na) and a molecule (PbO) under varying buffer gas density, and discuss conditions for optimizing these beam parameters. Our source compares favorably to existing techniques of beam formation, for a variety of applications.

Can Zircons be Suitable Paleomagnetic Recorders? - A Correlative Study of Bishop Tuff Zircon Grains Using High Resolution Lab X-ray Microscopes and a Quantum Diamond Microscope

1. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA. 2. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. 3. Carl Zeiss X-ray Microscopy Inc., Pleasanton, CA, USA. 4. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA. 5. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. 6. Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK. 7. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.