title: Note: Contamination-free loading of lithium metal into a nozzle source.
abstract: This note describes a system for transferring a load of high purity lithium metal into a molecular or cluster beam source. A hot loading vessel is thoroughly baked out while empty and overpressured with argon. A clean Li rod is then dropped in through a long narrow tube. The thoroughly degassed interior of the vessel and the rapid melting of the inserted rod facilitate contamination-free transfer of the highly reactive liquid metal into the source oven.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0484, USA.
authors.forename: Chuanfu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0484, USA.
authors.forename: Vitaly V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Kresin