title: Thermal beam of metastable krypton atoms produced by optical excitation.
abstract: A room-temperature beam of krypton atoms in the metastable 5s[3/2]2 level is demonstrated via an optical excitation method. A Kr-discharge lamp is used to produce vacuum ultraviolet photons at 124 nm for the first-step excitation from the ground level 4p6 1S0 to the 5s[3/2]1 level. An 819 nm Ti:sapphire laser is used for the second-step excitation from 5s[3/2]1 to 5s[3/2]2 followed by a spontaneous decay to the 5s[3/2]2 metastable level. A metastable atomic beam with an angular flux density of 3 x 10(14) s(-1) sr(-1) is achieved at the total gas flow rate of 0.01 cm3/s at STP (or 3 x 10(17) at./s). The dependences of the flux on the gas flow rate, laser power, and lamp parameters are investigated.
authors.affiliation: Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ding@anl.gov
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Dunford
authors.forename: Z T
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Young