Comparative analysis of recirculating and collimating cesium ovens

Abstract

We have performed a study of several cesium oven designs. A comparison between recirculating (or sticking-wall) and collimating (or re-emitting-wall) ovens is made in order to extract the most efficient design in terms of beam brightness. Unfortunately, non-reproducible behaviors have been observed, and the most often observed output flux is similar to the sticking-wall case, which is the lowest theoretical value of the two cases, with a beam brightness close to 1018 at. sr−1 s−1 cm−2. The reason of this universally observed behavior is unclear despite having tested several materials for the collimating tube. Conclusion on possible improved design based on sticking of cesium on several (un)cleaned surfaces is given.