LIAD - Light Induced Atom Desorption
To load our MOT efficiently we shine UV light on our glass cell to free atoms from the surface of the cell. On the left side, there is a picture of the glass cell illuminated by UV light (395nm) LED-arrays and on the right side a Rubidium-MOT after the UV light was shut off.
Of course, we have to cover the glass surface with Rubdium and Potassium atoms first. Therefore we fire Rb87 and enriched K40 Alkali-Dispensers for a few minutes and then operate our MOT by using LIAD only.
Read More in our Publication:
- UV light-induced atom desorption for large rubidium and potassium magneto-optical traps Phys. Rev. A 73, 013410 (2006) or on arXiv