Characterization of a velocity-tunable ⁸⁷Rb cold atomic source with a high-speed imaging technology

This paper has developed and characterized a method to produce a velocity-tunable ⁸⁷Rb cold atomic source for atomic interferometry application. Using a high speed fluorescence imaging technology, it reports that the dynamic process of the atomic source formation is observed and the source performances including the flux and the initial velocity are characterized. A tunable atomic source with the initial velocity of 1.4～2.6 m/s and the atomic source flux of 2×10⁸～ 6×10⁹ atoms/s has been obtained with the built experimental setup.