title: Measurement of vacuum pressure with a magneto-optical trap: A pressure-rise method.
abstract: The lifetime of an atom trap is often limited by the presence of residual background gases in the vacuum chamber. This leads to the lifetime being inversely proportional to the pressure. Here, we use this dependence to estimate the pressure and to obtain pressure rate-of-rise curves, which are commonly used in vacuum science to evaluate the performance of a system. We observe different rates of pressure increase in response to different levels of outgassing in our system. Therefore, we suggest that this is a sensitive method which will find useful applications in cold atom systems, in particular, where the inclusion of a standard vacuum gauge is impractical.
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rowan W G
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lucie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Findlay
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Torralbo-Campo
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Graham D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cassettari