Slow beams of atomic hydrogen by multistage Zeeman deceleration

Abstract

Hydrogen atoms seeded in a supersonic expansion of Kr have been decelerated from an initial velocity of 435 m s−1 to 107 m s−1 in a multistage Zeeman decelerator. The operation of the decelerator has been fully quantified by numerical particle trajectory simulations and independent measurements of the velocity distribution by ion time-of-flight mass spectrometry following photoionization of the decelerated atoms. The velocity distributions of the decelerated atom clouds have a half-width at half-maximum of 25 ± 12 m s−1 corresponding to a temperature of ~30 mK. These velocities and temperatures are sufficiently low that magnetic trapping of the atoms can be envisaged.