Oven assembly for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms

Abstract

An oven assembly (104) for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms. The oven assembly (104) includes a first housing (108) configured to contain an atomic source material (110), at least one passage (134) from the interior of the first housing (108) to the exterior of the first housing (108), a second housing (120), and one or more supports (124). The first housing (108) is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing (120) by one or more supports (124). The first housing (108), the second housing (120), and the one or more supports (124) are formed from a first homogeneous material.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention generally relates to an oven assembly for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms, such as a neutral atom beam, suitable for loading into ion traps within an ion trap quantum computer.

[0002] In recent years, ion traps have been demonstrated to be a viable technology for developing large-scale quantum computers for quantum information processing and direct quantum simulation. However, there are a number of obstacles that must be overcome to scale up current ion trap systems to a sufficiently large number of qubits to achieve so-called quantum supremacy, where a quantum computer can solve certain problems faster than is possible using any classical computer.

[0003] One envisioned route to scalability is to create a single large quantum processor from a network of many ion trap nodes housed within individual ultra-high vacuum systems, where each node is of relatively low complexity and contains a small number of ion qubits. Thus, to reach a suitable number of qubits, each node and its in-vacuum components must be relatively compact while minimizing their impact on the quality of the vacuum in which the qubits reside.

[0004] One such example of an in-vacuum component is the atomic source used to load the ion trap. The atomic source generates a collimated beam of neutral atoms that is directed towards the desired target ion trap region. To load the ion trap, the neutral atoms are then ionized, for example, via a photoionization laser beam directed orthogonal to the direction of the atomic beam. Currently, typical atomic sources consist of a collimated thermal beam generated from a resistively heated oven or a laser ablation source, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent No. 10,923,335(B2).

[0005] These methods have limitations in applicability to expandable ion trap systems. Resistive heating ovens generally require high current electrical feedthroughs and in-vacuum wiring, increasing warm-up times, reducing reliability and thermal efficiency, and often making them incompatible with ultra-low temperature vacuum systems. Laser ablation sources provide fast response times and ultra-low temperature compatibility, but require that a high energy pulsed laser source be integrated into or directed at each system. Additionally, such ablation sources generate a plume of neutral atoms with a high and variable flow rate, reducing the fraction of ionizable particles that can be trapped in a shallow ion trap and increasing the Doppler effect that limits isotope selectivity in the photoionization process.

[0006] These conventional approaches lead to atomic beams in which only a small fraction of the generated atoms are trapable (this increases the background pressure of the vacuum system and the time or number of attempts required to load ions). Each may also involve a relatively complex and / or thermally poorly isolated assembly, which in turn increases the in-vacuum surface area of the components and contributes to unwanted heating of the surrounding system. This typically leads to an increase in the error rate and reliability issues at times after loading of the ion qubits.

[0007] This application seeks to address one or more of these problems.

[0008] In one aspect, the present invention provides an oven assembly for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms, the oven assembly comprising a first housing configured to contain an atomic source material, at least one passage from the interior of the first housing to the exterior of the first housing, a second housing, and one or more supports by which the first housing is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing, wherein the first housing, the second housing, and the one or more supports are formed from a first homogeneous material.

[0009] It can be difficult to provide an oven assembly that not only provides high thermal impedance between the oven assembly and the surrounding environment, but also has a sufficient degree of mechanical stability (e.g., between the internal components of the oven assembly). For example, the various components of conventional oven assemblies are formed from different materials. Some components of one type of material can be configured to provide mechanical stability, while other components of a second material can be configured to provide high thermal impedance.

[0010] However, problems such as different coefficients of thermal expansion or difficulty joining two materials exist, and these problems can contribute to a decrease in mechanical stability and / or low thermal impedance. In contrast, embodiments of the present invention provide an oven assembly in which a first housing, a second housing, and one or more supports are all formed from the same homogeneous material. This configuration helps to overcome the problems associated with conventional configurations.

[0011] The first housing can be held in a fixed position with a high degree of thermal insulation relative to the second housing by one or more supports.

[0012] The oven assembly can comprise an integral part comprising the first housing and one or more supports. Thus, since there is no joint between the first housing and the one or more supports, the oven assembly parts can have a uniform coefficient of thermal expansion and a uniform material structure throughout the integral part, which can increase mechanical stability and / or increase thermal impedance.

[0013] As will be appreciated, spatially propagating neutral atoms can be a neutral atom beam.

[0014] In an embodiment, the oven assembly comprises an integral part comprising a first housing, a second housing, and one or more supports, and the first housing comprises at least one passage.

[0015] The first housing may comprise at least one passage. For example, the at least one passage may be provided through the wall of the first housing. In an embodiment, the first housing is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing by only one or more supports. That is, the only material path for heat transfer through the oven assembly itself is between the first housing and the second housing via one or more supports.

[0016] As will be appreciated, the second housing may not be the housing of the vacuum chamber (i.e., the vacuum housing). Rather, the second housing may be configured to be mounted within the housing of the vacuum chamber or may be configured to be mounted within a structure, where the structure is configured to be mounted within the housing of the vacuum chamber.

[0017] In an embodiment, (i) one or more regions of the surface of the first housing are configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source to liberate atoms from the atomic source material contained therein and / or (ii) the first housing is configured to contain the atomic source material such that one or more regions of the surface of the atomic source material contained therein are configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source to liberate atoms from the atomic source material, and the at least one passage is configured to enable the liberated atoms to pass through the at least one passage to form neutral atoms that propagate spatially.

[0018] As will be appreciated, when the first housing is heated, the temperature of the source material contained therein increases, the vapor pressure of the source material within the first housing increases, leading to the outflow of the source material from any open aperture of the housing (e.g., through the at least one passage), generating one or more plumes of spatially propagating neutral atoms or one or more neutral atom beams.

[0019] The first region of the one or more regions can be the outer surface of the first housing. For example, the first region can be the outer surface that defines or is adjacent to at least one passage.

[0020] Alternatively or additionally, the second region of the one or more regions can be the inner surface of the first housing, such as the inner surface of at least one passage or the inner surface inside the first housing. In these embodiments, the first housing is configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source that is at least partially directed through at least one passage.

[0021] Alternatively or additionally, the first housing and the at least one passage can be configured such that the surface of the atomic source material housed within the first housing is heated by irradiation from a light source that is at least partially directed through at least one passage. In embodiments having a plurality of passages, the irradiation from the light source can be at least partially directed through at least one of the plurality of passages to heat the atomic source material.

[0022] It will be understood that the first housing can be configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source, but other heating methods such as resistive heating can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0023] In embodiments where the first housing is configured to be heated by a light source, the light source can be a laser.

[0024] In embodiments, the first housing is held in a fixed position within a second housing such that it is at least partially surrounded or enclosed by the second housing.

[0025] For example, the second housing can be an annular outer housing. One or more supports can support the first housing so as to position the first housing radially inward of the annular outer housing.

[0026] In an embodiment, the oven assembly includes a plurality of passages, where (i) the first housing includes a plurality of chambers configured to contain a source atomic material, and each passage of the plurality of passages extends from inside each respective chamber of the plurality of chambers to outside the first housing, or (ii) the first housing includes one chamber configured to contain a source atomic material, and each passage of the plurality of passages extends from inside the chamber to outside the first housing.

[0027] For example, the first housing may include a plurality of passages.

[0028] In an embodiment, each passage of the plurality of passages extends from inside the same chamber to outside the first housing. A first passage of the plurality of passages may be provided on a first side of the chamber. A second passage of the plurality of passages may be provided on a second side of the chamber that is opposite the first side. As will be appreciated, the first passage may be a passage through which released atoms pass to form atoms that propagate spatially during use. In contrast, the second passage may be a passage through which (i) source material may be loaded into the chamber of the first housing and / or (ii) an end of an optical fiber may be inserted. The optical fiber may be for transmitting radiation from an EM source such that one or more regions of the surface of the source atomic material contained therein may be heated by irradiation from the inserted end of the optical fiber.

[0029] The first housing may include only a single chamber. That is, the oven assembly may be formed from a single monolithic component. For example, the first housing, the second housing, and the one or more supports may consist of only a first homogeneous material. As will be appreciated, this may simplify the manufacture of the oven assembly.

[0030] In another aspect, a method of fabricating any of the oven assemblies described herein is provided. During fabrication of the oven assembly, the method can include (i) forming a first portion of a first housing, (ii) loading a source material for atoms onto the first portion of the first housing, and (iii) forming a second portion of the first housing over the first portion of the first housing to provide a first housing configured to contain the source material for atoms, the first housing including at least one passageway.

[0031] The method can further include loading the source material for atoms via insertion through at least one passageway. For example, an initial source material for atoms can be consumed through use of the oven assembly and thereafter replenished via insertion through at least one passageway.

[0032] During fabrication of the oven assembly, the method can include (i) forming a first housing configured to contain a source material for atoms, the first housing including at least one passageway, and (ii) loading the source material for atoms into the first housing via insertion through at least one passageway. Loading of the source material for atoms into the oven assembly can be accomplished via evaporation through a shadow mask.

[0033] As will be appreciated, in these methods, at least the first housing configured to contain the source material for atoms can be fabricated as a single monolithic piece.

[0034] In an embodiment, the oven assembly includes a first component including a first housing, at least a portion of a second housing, and at least a portion of one or more supports, and a second component including at least one cap configured to engage the first housing.

[0035] For example, at least one cap is configured to engage with a first housing to form a chamber in which the atomic source material is contained and to seal the atomic source material within the chamber. That is, the first housing and the at least one cap can be configured to engage with each other to form a volume within the first housing where the atomic source material is contained and sealed. The first housing can include at least one passage and can further include an open end having a diameter or width greater than the diameter or width of the at least one passage, and the open end is configured to be closed by the at least one cap.

[0036] As will be appreciated, "sealing" the atomic source material means that atoms liberated from the atomic source material can only exit the interior of the first housing through at least one passage substantially.

[0037] The first component (e.g., the first housing) can include a plurality of passages, and the second component can include either a single cap or a plurality of caps such that each cap of the plurality of caps corresponds to each of the plurality of passages. For example, in an embodiment where the oven assembly includes a plurality of passages and a corresponding plurality of chambers configured to contain the atomic source material, each cap of the plurality of caps can be configured to engage or seal each of the plurality of chambers such that each chamber is closed except for the corresponding passage from the interior of the chamber to the exterior of the first housing.

[0038] In an embodiment where the oven assembly includes a single chamber and a plurality of passages from the interior of the single chamber to the exterior of the first housing, the single cap can be configured to engage or seal the single chamber such that the single chamber is closed except for the plurality of passages from the interior of the single chamber to the exterior of the first housing.

[0039] The first component and the second component may each comprise one or more mating surfaces. Each mating surface of one or more mating surfaces of the first component and the second component may be configured to contact a corresponding mating surface of the other of the first component and the second component during use.

[0040] One or more regions of the surface of at least one cap may be configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source to heat and liberate atoms from a source material accommodated within the first housing, and the liberated atoms pass through at least one passage to form neutral atoms that propagate spatially.

[0041] In an embodiment, the second component is joined to the first component by, for example, anodic bonding, optical contact bonding, eutectic bonding, thermocompression bonding, adhesive bonding, brazing bonding, or sintering bonding. For example, at least one cap may be joined to the first housing by anodic bonding, optical contact bonding, eutectic bonding, thermocompression bonding, adhesive bonding, brazing bonding, or sintering bonding. In an embodiment, at least one cap is attached to the first housing by a clip or friction fit.

[0042] In an embodiment, the second component further comprises an outer cap housing and one or more cap supports, and at least one cap is held in a fixed position relative to the outer cap housing by the one or more cap supports, and optionally, when the second component is arranged to engage the first component, the one or more cap supports are configured to bias at least one cap against the first housing to seal the first housing with at least one cap.

[0043] For example, during assembly, the second component may be brought into contact with the first component and / or the first component and the second component may be positioned at a designated position within an external structure, whereby one or more cap supports bias or press at least one cap onto and against the first housing to seal with each other.

[0044] Alternatively or additionally, at least a portion of one or more supports of the first component may be similarly configured to press the first housing against at least one cap and seal the first housing with the at least one cap during use.

[0045] At least a portion of the second housing of the first component and the outer cap housing of the second component may form the second housing of the oven assembly together.

[0046] At least a portion of one or more supports of the first component and one or more cap supports of the second component may form one or more supports of the oven assembly together.

[0047] In an embodiment, the second component is formed from a second homogeneous material. For example, at least one cap, the outer cap housing, and one or more cap supports may be formed from the same homogeneous material, which may be the same homogeneous material as that of the first component or a different homogeneous material. The second component may consist of only the second homogeneous material. In an embodiment, the first homogeneous material and the second homogeneous material are the same homogeneous material.

[0048] As will be appreciated, forming both the first component and the second component from the same homogeneous material may simplify processing, for example, since the first component and the second component may exhibit the same coefficient of thermal expansion, the thermal and mechanical properties of the oven assembly may be improved.

[0049] In an embodiment, at least one cap includes at least one cap passage through the at least one cap to provide at least one passage for fluidly connecting the interior of the first housing to the exterior of the at least one cap when the at least one cap is engaged with the first housing.

[0050] For example, the first housing can be closed except at the open end, and a cap having at least one cap passage through at least one cap can close the open end of the first housing except at the at least one cap passage and can be configured to provide one or a passage of the oven assembly.

[0051] In an embodiment, each of the first part and the second part is a single-piece part. That is, the components of the first part (e.g., at least a portion of the first housing, at least a portion of the second housing, and at least a portion of one or more supports) consist of only the first homogeneous material, and the components of the second part (e.g., at least one cap, an outer cap housing, and / or one or a cap support) consist of only the first homogeneous material, and each part is separate and integral.

[0052] The oven assembly can be formed from two parts, and each part is a single monolithic part. As will be appreciated, this helps reduce manufacturing complexity because there is no need for the exact location of one or more supports relative to the first housing or the second housing.

[0053] For example, the homogeneous material can be glass, fused silica, silicon-based, carbon-based, amorphous, polymeric, and / or ceramic. Thus, in an embodiment where the entire oven assembly is a single integral part, the oven assembly can be manufactured from a single monolithic block via laser-assisted etching such as femtosecond laser-assisted chemical etching.

[0054] In an embodiment where the first part and the second part together provide the oven assembly and each of the first part and the second part is a single-piece part, each part can be manufactured from its respective single monolithic block via laser-assisted etching such as femtosecond laser-assisted chemical etching.

[0055] In an embodiment, the first housing comprises at least one passage. The at least one cap may comprise at least one cap passage therethrough. Thus, when the at least one cap is engaged with the first housing, the at least one passage may provide access to the at least one cap passage on opposite sides inside the first housing. As will be appreciated, one of the first housing passage or the cap passage may be a passage through which free atoms pass to form atoms propagating spatially during use. In contrast, the other of the first housing passage or the cap passage may be a passage through which (i) source material may be loaded into the chamber of the first housing and / or (ii) an end of an optical fiber may be inserted, the optical fiber being for transmitting radiation from an EM source such that one or more regions of the surface of the atomic source material housed therein and / or the inner surface of the first housing may be heated by irradiation from the inserted end of the optical fiber.

[0056] In an embodiment, the oven assembly comprises a third housing. The third housing may at least partially surround the first component and the second component, and the third housing may be configured to bias the first component and the second component together to seal the first housing with at least one cap.

[0057] The third housing may comprise a third housing cap, a clip, and a stop on the inner surface of the third housing. The clip may be configured to bias the third housing cap in an upward direction to bias the first component and the second component together against the stop.

[0058] The third housing cap may have an aperture therethrough. As will be appreciated, the aperture may provide a passage for the tip of the optical fiber (i.e., the end of the optical fiber) inserted therethrough. Since the third housing cap is positioned further away from the interior of the first housing (the hottest region) during use, the region of the aperture within the third housing cap may be relatively cool. Thus, an adhesive may be advantageously used at the aperture of the third housing cap to secure a portion of the optical fiber to the third housing cap.

[0059] In embodiments, the one or more supports, or the one or more cap supports, comprise one or more spokes, membranes, filaments, or combinations thereof. For example, in embodiments where no cap support is present, the one or more supports may comprise one or more spokes, membranes, filaments, or combinations thereof. In embodiments comprising one or more cap supports, the one or more supports and / or the one or more cap supports may comprise one or more spokes, membranes, filaments, or combinations thereof.

[0060] In embodiments, the spokes comprise a plurality of helical spokes. In embodiments, the plurality of helical spokes comprise a first set of helical spokes that rotate in a first direction and a second set of helical spokes that rotate in a second direction opposite the first direction, and at least one helical spoke from one of the first set or the second set mechanically intersects at least one helical spoke from the other of the first set or the second set. In embodiments, the plurality of helical spokes comprise a first set of helical spokes that rotate in a first direction and a second set of helical spokes that rotate in a second direction opposite the first direction, and each spoke of the first set and the second set does not mechanically intersect any other spoke of the first set and the second set.

[0061] In an embodiment, at least one passage has an aspect ratio of at least 2:1, defined as the ratio of length to diameter, such that spatially propagating neutral atoms are collimated from the inside to the outside through at least one passage so as to form a neutral atom beam.

[0062] In an embodiment, the aspect ratio is one of 2:1 to 10:1, 10:1 to 30:1, 30:1 to 50:1, or greater than 50:1. Each or all of the at least one passage may have a diameter of less than 1 micron, 1 micron to 15 microns, 15 microns to 50 microns, 50 microns to 100 microns, or greater than 1000 microns. Each or all of the at least one passage may have a length of less than 50 microns, 50 microns to 250 microns, 250 microns to 500 microns, 500 microns to 1000 microns, or greater than 1000 microns. The first housing may have a volume of less than 0.01 mm 3 less than, 0.01 mm 3 to 0.1 mm 3 0.1 mm 3 to 1 mm 3 1 mm 3 to 10 mm 3 10 mm 3 or greater than, and may have a volume of greater than 10 mm.

[0063] In an embodiment, the oven assembly comprises a plurality of passages arranged substantially parallel to form an array of separately spatially propagating neutral atoms. That is, in embodiments where each of the plurality of passages has a sufficiently high aspect ratio, an array of substantially parallel neutral atom beams may be formed.

[0064] In an embodiment, the oven assembly may comprise a plurality of non-parallel passages to form an array of separately spatially propagating neutral atoms or a plurality of neutral atom beams directed in non-parallel directions relative to each other.

[0065] In an embodiment, the oven assembly comprises a layer on an outer surface region of the oven assembly. Preferably, the layer has a thickness of at least 10 nm. Thus, such that the layer is a thin layer or coating, preferably, the layer has a thickness that is substantially smaller than the dimensions of the oven assembly. The layer can have a thickness of less than 1 micron.

[0066] At least a portion of the outer surface of the first housing, the second housing, and / or one or more supports can comprise a layer. Preferably, most of the outer surface of the first housing, the second housing and / or one or more supports comprises a layer.

[0067] In an embodiment where one or more regions of the surface of the first housing are configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source, the one or more regions can be regions that are uncoated and do not comprise a layer.

[0068] The layer can be a metal layer or a dielectric layer. In an embodiment, when the layer is a dielectric layer, the layer can have a thickness greater than 1 micron. Preferably, the layer is a metal layer.

[0069] The layer can be, for example, a sputter coating, a coating achieved via vapor deposition, or a coating deposited via wet chemistry. The layer can comprise a first layer such as an adhesive layer and a second layer such as a blackbody emissivity reduction layer.

[0070] In an embodiment where the layer is a metal, the metal layer can be a titanium / gold (Ti / Au) sputter coating, or any other suitable coating via vapor deposited Au and Ti, etc.

[0071] Ti can be an adhesive layer so as to enable and improve adhesion. The adhesive layer can have a thickness of approximately 1 nm, 1 - 10 nm, or greater than 10 nm. Alternative materials can be used as the adhesive layer of the metal layer. For example, the adhesive layer can be, for example, a single layer stack of platinum.

[0072] Au can be the blackbody emissivity reduction layer. The blackbody emissivity reduction layer can have a thickness of more than 10 nm, such as 10 nm to 100 nm, 100 nm to 200 nm, or more than 200 nm.

[0073] The metal layer can include a migration prevention layer such as one or more (e.g., additional) layers configured to prevent migration between, for example, a (e.g., Ti) adhesion layer and a (e.g., Au) blackbody emissivity reduction layer. This can apply especially at higher temperatures. Thus, the metal layer can be configured to reduce the blackbody emissivity of the oven assembly. Any region of the oven assembly without the metal layer can improve the entry of energy from the light source into the interior of the first housing. The interior of the first housing can be configured to be heated via heat conduction from the exterior of the first housing when the exterior of the first housing is irradiated by the light source.

[0074] The homogeneous materials of the first housing, the second housing, and the one or more supports can be substantially transparent to irradiation from the light source. Thus, one or more outer surface regions of the oven assembly can be regions that are not coated with a thin metal layer, thereby enabling the irradiation from the light source to be at least partially directed through the uncoated regions and the substantially transparent homogeneous material to heat one or more regions of the inner surface of the first housing or the surface of the atomic source material housed within the first housing. In embodiments where the surface of the atomic source material is configured to be heated by irradiation from the light source, the first housing can have a thin metal layer on its inner surface (i.e., the surface of the first housing facing the atomic source material housed therein).

[0075] The oven assembly may comprise a thin metal layer on an inner surface region of the oven assembly, such as on an inner surface of the first housing. This can be advantageous, for example, in embodiments where the first housing and at least one passage are configured such that the surface of the atomic source material housed within the first housing is heated by irradiation from a light source that is at least partially directed through the at least one passage.

[0076] The oven assembly may contain (e.g., house) an atomic source material, and for example, the atomic source material may be calcium.

[0077] In another aspect, a system for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms includes an oven assembly as in any of the preceding embodiments, and a heating mechanism for heating the oven assembly to liberate atoms from an atomic source material housed within the oven assembly, wherein the liberated atoms form spatially propagating neutral atoms as they pass through at least one passage.

[0078] In embodiments, the heating mechanism comprises one or more regions of a surface of a first housing configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source, one or more regions of a surface of at least one cap configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source, and / or an electromagnetic (EM) radiation source configured to irradiate one or more regions of a surface of the atomic source material.

[0079] The EM source of the electromagnetic radiation can be a light source. The EM source can be a laser. The laser can be a pulsed laser. Preferably, the laser is a continuous wave laser.

[0080] In an embodiment, the EM source can be located at a distance away from the oven assembly. For example, if the oven assembly is disposed within a vacuum system for use within a vacuum, the EM source can be disposed outside of the vacuum system (e.g., configured to irradiate the oven assembly through a window from a location outside of the window of the vacuum system). This can further reduce the thermal load within the vacuum system and simplify the in-vacuum structure of the components.

[0081] In an embodiment, the EM source has a wavelength that substantially corresponds to a prominent absorption line of the first homogeneous material and / or the second homogeneous material.

[0082] In an embodiment, the system includes an optical fiber disposed to transmit radiation from the EM source to the oven assembly. As will be appreciated, using an optical fiber enables transmission of radiation from the EM source even when there is no direct line of sight between the EM source and the oven assembly.

[0083] The end of the optical fiber can be inserted through an aperture of the first housing of the oven assembly so as to be configured to irradiate the inner surface of the first housing and / or the atomic source material. This can increase the efficiency of energy transmission from the EM source to the source material housed within the first housing of the oven assembly.

[0084] In another aspect, an ion trap system is provided, the ion trap system including an oven assembly of any of the embodiments described herein, an ion trap having an ion trap region, and at least one passage configured to direct an atomic beam towards the ion trap region.

[0085] Such a configuration helps ensure that the oven assembly is highly insulated with a lower output loss, which can be 10 mW or less, for example, 1 mW to 10 mW, or less than 1 mW. Further, the system for generating a neutral atom beam for loading an ion trap can be configured to continuously generate a neutral atom beam at a relatively low flux.

[0086] For example, the system for generating a neutral atom beam can, during use, generate an atomic beam having a flux of less than 100 atoms / second, 100 to 10 4 atoms / second, 10 4 to 10 6 atoms / second, or more than 10 6 atoms / second. Preferably, the atomic beam can be generated at a flux of about 10 3 atoms / second.

[0087] The system can include one or more photoionization lasers configured to ionize atoms from the neutral atom beam to generate ions for trapping within the ion trap region.

[0088] In another aspect, a method for generating a neutral atom beam using a system of any of the embodiments described herein, the method comprising: (i) heating an oven assembly to liberate atoms from an atomic source material using a heating mechanism; and (ii) generating spatially propagating neutral atoms from at least some of the liberated atoms passing through at least one passageway.

[0089] In embodiments where the heating mechanism comprises a light source or a laser, the method may also include: (i) irradiating an oven assembly (e.g., a first housing) with the light source or laser to liberate particles from an oxide layer on an atomic source material at a first temperature; (ii) generating spatially propagating particles (e.g., a particle beam) from at least some of the liberated particles passing through at least one passage; (iii) directing the spatially propagating particles towards a damping region of a surrounding structure; (iv) irradiating the oven assembly with the light source or laser to liberate atoms from the atomic source material at a second temperature lower than the first temperature; and (v) generating spatially propagating neutral atoms (e.g., a neutral atom beam) from at least some of the liberated atoms passing through at least one passage. As will be appreciated, the temperature can be controlled, for example, via the light source or laser intensity, the light source or laser wavelength, and / or the duration for which the light source or laser is on.

[0090] The passage can be an aperture or a collimator. Providing an oven assembly that produces a collimated neutral atom beam formed from atoms liberated from an atomic source material can sometimes be difficult. Conventionally, this problem has been overcome by using a collimator. However, the collimator can become at least partially clogged / obstructed, for example, due to the aggregation of liberated atoms along the inner surface of the collimator channels. As a result, conventional collimators have limitations on the lower limit of the channel diameter, thereby preventing the generation of a relatively highly collimated neutral atom beam. In contrast, some embodiments of the present invention provide an oven assembly in which the collimator is configured to be directly heated by a laser during use, while the first housing is heated via heat conduction from the collimator, such that the collimator is at a higher temperature than the first housing that contains the atomic source material. This configuration helps to overcome the problems associated with conventional configurations.

[0091] The collimator can be configured to be heated by a light source or a laser as described above. The collimator can comprise a substantially conical body surrounding a passage therethrough. As will be appreciated, a collimator having a conical body can enable the oven assembly to be positioned closer to the target region (e.g., the outlet of the passage of the collimator can be positioned closer to the target region).

[0092] The first housing and / or the second housing can comprise an end face facing the direction of propagation of the spatially propagating neutral atoms or neutral atom beam, and the collimator extends beyond the end face of the first housing and / or the second housing in the direction of propagation of the neutral atom beam.

[0093] Accordingly, a first region of the outer surface of the collimator configured to be heated by a light source or a laser can be located on a side surface of the collimator facing orthogonally to the direction of propagation of the neutral atom beam.

[0094] The end face of the second housing can extend beyond the end face of the first housing (in the direction of propagation of the spatially propagating neutral atoms or neutral atom beam), and the collimator can extend beyond the end face of the first housing without extending beyond the end face of the second housing.

[0095] The collimator can comprise a first portion around at least a part of the channel, having a first radial thickness, and a second portion around at least a part of the channel at an end of the collimator in the direction of propagation of the spatially propagating neutral atoms or neutral atom beam, having a second radial thickness greater than the first radial thickness, wherein (i) the first portion and the second portion each have a substantially constant first radial thickness and second radial thickness as a function of the position along the collimator in the direction of propagation of the neutral atom beam, or (ii) the first portion has a first radial thickness that increases as a function of the position along the collimator in the direction of propagation of the neutral atom beam.

[0096] The collimator may include a third portion around at least a part of the channel, a circular disk sector end plate, and a partial ring that is radially outside the third portion and connected to the circular disk sector end plate, where the partial ring defines the same angle for both the partial ring and the circular disk sector end plate such that the partial ring partially surrounds the third portion.

[0097] The oven assembly may include a first component that includes the collimator and a second component, where the first component and the second component together form a first housing. The first component and the second component that provide the collimator may together form a second housing and each may include one or more supports that support the first housing and / or the collimator within the second housing.

[0098] Thus, the structure of the oven assembly according to an embodiment helps to enable the inner housing (which houses the atomic source material) and the collimator attached thereto to be substantially thermally insulated from the outer housing. That is, the one or more supports mechanically support the inner housing and / or the collimator within the outer housing while providing a relatively long thermal path length between the outer housing and the inner housing and / or the collimator, whereby the outer housing (and the surrounding system) is substantially thermally insulated from the hotter regions of the oven assembly (which is the inner housing and the collimator).

[0099] A system that includes a light source, such as a laser, and the oven assembly may include (i) a light source or laser configured to be incident on the front portion of the collimator, where the front portion of the collimator faces the direction in which the spatially propagating neutral atoms or neutral atom beam propagates, or (ii) a light source or laser incident on the side portion of the collimator, where the side portion does not face the direction in which the neutral atom beam propagates and optionally faces a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the neutral atom beam propagates.

[0100] For example, the light source or laser can be configured to propagate substantially counter-propagating with respect to the neutral atom beam so as to be incident on the front part of the collimator, or the laser can be configured to be directed so as to be incident on the side part of the collimator and substantially orthogonal to the direction in which the spatially propagating neutral atom or neutral atom beam propagates.

[0101] Accordingly, the present invention helps to enable the oven assembly to be placed very close to the desired target area with a negligible impact on the trap system, while helping to ensure micron-level lateral alignment of the atomic beam to the target and with a negligible tilt. For example, the oven assembly can be located at a position less than 0.1 mm, 0.1 mm to 1 mm, 1 mm to 5 mm, or more than 5 mm from the target area.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0102] Here, various embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1A

Figure 1B

Figure 1C

Figure 2

Figure 3A

Figure 3B

Figure 4A

Figure 4B

Figure 5A

Figure 5B

Figure 5C

Figure 5D

Figure 6A

Figure 6B

Figure 6C

Figure 6D

Figure 7A

Figure 7B

Figure 8A

Figure 8B

Figure 8C

Figure 9A

Figure 9B

Figure 10

[0103] Oven assembly FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system 100 for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms (not shown) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 includes an oven assembly 104 and an EM radiation source 106 for creating electromagnetic (EM) radiation 112. For example, the EM radiation source 106 can be a light source such as a laser source for creating a continuous - wave laser beam or a pulsed laser beam. Preferably, the EM radiation source 106 is a continuous - wave laser.

[0104] The oven assembly 104 is for housing a source material 110 from which atoms are liberated to form spatially propagating neutral atoms, and the source material 110 is housed within a first housing 108 of the oven assembly 104. For example, the first housing 108 can provide at least one cavity that forms an interior 109 of the first housing 108 in which the atomic source material 110 is housed.

[0105] The oven assembly 104 includes at least one passage 134 from the interior of the first housing 108 to the exterior of the first housing 108. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1A - 1C, the first housing 108 includes at least one passage 134 from the interior 109 of the first housing 108 to the exterior in the form of an aperture through the wall of the first housing 108 that fluidly connects the interior 109 to the exterior thereof.

[0106] The oven assembly 104 also includes a second housing 120 and one or more supports 124 that hold the first housing 108 in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120. The first housing 108, the second housing 120, and the one or more supports 124 are all formed from a first homogeneous material.

[0107] As shown in FIG. 1A, the first housing 108 is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing by only one or more supports 124 (i.e., only two supports 124 in FIG. 1A). In this way, the only major path for conductive heat transfer through the oven assembly 104 from the first housing 108 to the second housing 120 (or vice versa) is through the one or more supports 124.

[0108] Referring further to FIG. 1A, the EM radiation 112 is directed towards the first housing 108 so as to impinge on one or more heating regions 102. For example, the EM radiation 112 can be directed so as to impinge on the outer surface of the first housing 108, whereby the first housing 108 and then the interior 109 of the first housing 108 are heated by the EM radiation 112. Alternatively or additionally, the EM radiation 112 can be directed so as to impinge on the inner surface of the first housing 108, for example, by directing at least a portion of the EM radiation 112 through at least one passage 134. Alternatively or additionally, the EM radiation 112 can be directed so as to directly impinge on the atomic source material 110 housed within the first housing 108 (again, by directing at least a portion of the EM radiation through at least one passage 134).

[0109] As a result of heating of the one or more heating regions 102, the atomic source material 110 housed within the first housing 108 is heated, for example, by heat conduction from one or more of the heating regions 102 on the surface of the first housing 108 and / or via direct absorption of energy from one or more of the heating regions 102 on the surface of the atomic source material 110. Thus, the atomic source material 110 is heated such that atoms are liberated from the source material 110, for example, by melting of at least a portion of the source material 110 followed by evaporation and / or sublimation thereof.

[0110] Thus, due to the corresponding pressure difference thus induced between the interior 109 of the first housing 108 and its exterior, the liberated atoms are directed through at least one passage 134 to form spatially propagating neutral atoms such as a neutral atom beam. In embodiments comprising a plurality of passages 134, the irradiation from the EM radiation source 106 can be at least partially directed through at least one of the plurality of passages 134 to heat the atomic source material 110.

[0111] Figure 1B shows a side view of the system 100 of Figure 1A. As shown, the first housing 108 can be held in a fixed position by one or more supports 124 within the second housing so as to be at least partially surrounded or enclosed by the second housing. For example, the second housing 120 can define a cavity in which the first housing 108 is held via one or more supports 124, and the first housing 108 is at least partially within the cavity. For example, in Figure 1B, the first housing 108 is shown to be completely within the cavity of the second housing 120. The cavity of the second housing 120 has an opening through which spatially propagating neutral atoms generated within the first housing 108 can be directed.

[0112] Alternatively, as shown in Figure 1C, the first housing 108 can be held in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120 so as to be adjacent to the second housing 120. In Figure 1C, the second housing 120 is a base such as a planar base, and one or more supports 124 extend in a direction away from the base so as to fixedly hold the first housing 108 at a distance from the base.

[0113] The first housing 108 and the second housing 120 can have shapes that are adapted to each other, such as having a substantially box-like shape as shown in Figures 1A and 1B, and the box-like first housing 108 is held within a box-like rectangular cavity defined by the second housing 120. Alternatively, the first housing 108 and the second housing 120 can have substantially different shapes from each other, such as the box-like first housing 108 and the base second housing 122 of Figure 1C.

[0114] The second housing 120 can be an annular outer housing 120, as shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, one or more supports 124 can support the first housing 108 so as to position the first housing 108 radially inward of the annular outer housing 120. The first housing 108 can generally conform to the shape of the annular outer housing 120. For example, the first housing 108 of FIG. 2 is substantially cylindrical. Alternatively, the first housing 108 can have a shape that does not conform to the annular outer housing 120, such as the first housing 108 which is a box-shaped first housing.

[0115] The annular outer housing 120 can be open at both ends to define an annular portion. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2, the annular outer housing 120 can have a closed end 119 such that only a single open end exists within the annular outer housing 120 through which neutral atoms propagating spatially can be directed. Alternatively, one or more supports 124 can hold the first housing 108 in a fixed position so as to partially protrude through the open end of the outer housing 120.

[0116] FIGS. 3A and 3B show some of the main components of a system 100 for generating a spatially propagating neutral atom 114, such as a neutral atom beam 114, for loading a particular target region 118 outside the oven assembly 104, such as an ion trap region 118 (e.g., defined via ion trap electrodes 117), according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A shows a system 100 for generating a spatially propagating neutral atom 114 having an oven assembly 104 and an EM radiation source 106 for creating EM radiation 112, where the EM radiation 112 is directed off-axis from an axis defining the main direction of propagation of the neutral atom beam 114.

[0117] The EM radiation source 106 can be a continuous wave laser source or a pulsed laser source. Preferably, the EM radiation source 106 is a continuous wave laser source. The EM radiation 112 is configured to impinge on the first housing 108 and / or directly on the source material 110 (e.g., through at least one passage 134 of the oven assembly 104) to liberate one or more atoms from the source material 110 (preferably without ionizing these one or more atoms), as discussed above.

[0118] The liberated atoms form spatially propagating neutral atoms 114, which are directed towards a suitable target region 118. As shown in Figure 3B, the region 118 can be an ion trap region 118 such as a linear ion trap, and the spatially propagating neutral atoms 114 can be ionized as they pass through the region 118, for example, through interaction with a partial resonance pair of a UV laser (not shown). Thus, the spatially propagating neutral atoms 114 can serve to provide the source necessary to load one or more ion traps associated with the ion trap region 118.

[0119] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3B, the EM radiation source 106 can be spaced apart from the oven assembly 104. For example, if the oven assembly 104 is disposed within a vacuum system (i.e., used within a vacuum), the EM radiation source 106 can be disposed outside the vacuum system (e.g., configured to emit through the window 105 of the vacuum system from a position on the side opposite to the oven assembly 104, through the window 105, towards the oven assembly 104). This can help reduce the heat load within the vacuum system and simplify the in-vacuum structure of the components.

[0120] The EM radiation 112 can be directed substantially along the same axis that defines the main direction of propagation of the neutral atom beam 114, as shown in Figure 3B, or off-axis, as shown in Figure 3A. This flexibility can help reduce the complexity or difficulty associated with positioning the EM radiation source 106 relative to other components within a broader system.

[0121] Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the first housing 108 may include a plurality of passages 134 from the interior 109 of the first housing, such as two passages (FIG. 4A) or three passages (FIG. 4B). As shown in FIG. 4A, the first housing 108 may include a plurality of internal chambers 109a, 109b, such as two internal chambers as shown, each of these internal chambers being configured to accommodate the atomic source material 110. Each passage of the passages 134 extends from one of the interiors of the internal chambers 109a, 109b to the outside of the first housing.

[0122] The lowermost internal chamber 109b is shown with a forward-facing passage 134 having a circular cross-section and a rearward-facing passage 135 having a rectangular or square cross-section. The forward-facing passage 134 is shown larger than the rearward-facing passage 135 in both length and cross-sectional area and has a different cross-section. However, the passages may have the same cross-section and / or the same length, and / or the same cross-sectional area.

[0123] In an embodiment, the rearward-facing passage 135 may enable heating the oven assembly from the rear, i.e., directing the EM radiation 112 into the interior volume of the first housing through the rearward-facing passage 135.

[0124] In an embodiment, the forward passage 134 may be smaller. The backward passage 135 may be, for example, a capillary. It has been found that it may be desirable to emit an atomic beam through this backward passage. In an embodiment, the backward passage 135 may be configured to direct spatially propagating neutral atoms rearward, for diagnostic purposes such as measuring the temperature of the atoms. As will be appreciated, this may avoid the need to direct a spectroscopic beam through a more sensitive region such as the target region 118. In an embodiment, the backward passage 135 may provide a means for loading source material or additional source material into the oven assembly. Providing multiple passages or apertures from a single chamber may also be for directing multiple distinct neutral atom beams towards different locations.

[0125] Of course, the passage 135 does not necessarily have to be oriented in a direction opposite to that of the passage 134. For example, in an embodiment, the passage 135 may penetrate the side surface of the first housing 108 so as to be a lateral passage 135.

[0126] As shown in FIG. 4B, the first housing 108 may include a single chamber, and each passage of the plurality of passages 134 extends from the interior 109 of the single chamber to the exterior of the first housing 108.

[0127] The oven assembly 104 may be formed from an integral component including the first housing 108, the second housing 120, and one or more supports 124.

[0128] Alternatively, the oven assembly 104 may be formed from a plurality of components as shown in FIGS. 5A - 5D. Referring now to FIGS. 5A - 5D, the oven assembly 104 is formed from a first component 104a and a second component 104b. Each component 104a, 104b has one or more respective mating surfaces configured to contact corresponding mating surfaces of the other component 104a, 104b in use so as to form the completed oven assembly 104.

[0129] The mating surfaces can be accurately aligned with each other. In some embodiments, the mating surfaces can comprise corresponding steps and / or protrusions and recesses that can provide mutual mechanical support in one or more radial directions, for example.

[0130] Parts 104a, 104b can be machined from a substrate that has a surface to be polished prior to machining of parts 104a, 104b. Parts 104a, 104b can be formed from the substrate, for example, via a laser-assisted etching process. Parts 104a, 104b can be formed such that a portion of the polished surface of the substrate is not etched so as to form the mating surfaces of the two finished parts. Alternatively, the mating surfaces can be machined from the substrate, for example, via a laser-assisted etching process and then polished via laser ablation or laser annealing.

[0131] The first part 104a provides a first housing 108, at least a portion of a second housing 120 (as shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D), and at least a portion of one or more supports 124. The second part provides at least one cap 111 configured to engage the first housing 108 so as to form at least one internal chamber (e.g., a single internal volume 109 similar to that shown in FIG. 4B or multiple internal chambers 109a, 109b similar to those shown in FIG. 4A), and a source of atomic material (not shown in FIGS. 5A-5D) is received to enclose the source of atomic material within the at least one internal chamber.

[0132] A second component 104b, such as at least one cap 111, may be joined to the first component 104a via any number of joining mechanisms, such as anodic bonding, optical contact bonding, eutectic bonding, thermocompression bonding, adhesive bonding, brazing bonding, or sintering bonding. Alternatively or additionally, at least one cap 111 may be attached to the first housing 108 by a clip (such as shown in FIG. 5C) or a friction fit (such as shown in FIG. 5B). In an embodiment, the clip may bias the cap 111 onto the first housing 108 to seal the first housing 108 with a clamping force to seal the internal volume 109. The clamping force may be about 1 mN.

[0133] Referring to FIG. 5A, the cap 111 may provide at least one passage 134 of the oven assembly 104. For example, the first housing 108 may be closed except for an open end 136. The cap 111 may include at least one cap passage through the at least one cap such that the first housing 108 may be closed or sealed by the cap 111, except for at least one passage 134 that fluidly connects the interior of the first housing 108 to the exterior (i.e., the exterior of the first housing and the cap 111). That is, the cap 111 may provide at least one passage 134 of the oven assembly 104 when engaged with the first housing 108.

[0134] Referring to FIG. 5B, the first housing 108 includes both at least one passage 134 (such as three passages 134 as shown) and an opening end 136, and the opening end 136 has a diameter larger than any of the at least one passage 134. At least one of the passages 134 can be closed via a cap 111a of one or more caps 111. As will be appreciated, any number of passages 134 can be closed by a similar cap 111a, so that the oven assembly can be adapted to provide, for example, a single passage 134 or an array of various different configurations of passages 134. The opening end 136 is closed by another cap 111b of one or more caps 111. It will be recognized that a cap similar to the cap 111a of FIG. 5B can be applied to the passage 134 provided by the cap 111 of FIG. 5A.

[0135] Referring to FIG. 5D, the second component 104b provides an outer cap housing 121 and one or more cap supports 125 that support the cap 111 relative to the outer cap housing 121 (one or more cap supports 125 are also shown in the embodiment of FIG. 5A). The outer cap housing 121 of the second component 104b can be configured to fit at least a portion of the second housing 120 of the first component 104a.

[0136] The second component 104b can be arranged and configured to engage the first component 104a such that one or more cap supports 125 bias at least one cap 111 against the first housing 108 so as to seal the first housing 108 with at least one cap 111. For example, as shown in FIG. 5D, the cap support 125 can be a spring support that biases the cap 111 toward the first housing 108 when the cap housing 121 of the second component 104b engages at least a portion of the second housing 120 of the first component 104a.

[0137] As shown in FIG. 5D, both the one or more cap supports 125 and the one or more supports 124 can be spring supports that can protect the first housing and the cap 111 from an external force or impact exerted on at least a portion of the second housing 120 and / or the cap housing 121.

[0138] In use, the one or more caps 111 can be configured to be heated by the EM radiation 112, and in so doing, it will be appreciated that the atomic source material housed within the first housing 108 is heated.

[0139] The second component 104b is formed from a second homogeneous material. Preferably, the second component 104b is formed from the same homogeneous material as the first component 104a. Each of the first component 104a and the second component 104b can be an integral component.

[0140] In some embodiments, the internal volume within the first housing 108, or the internal volume formed by the first housing and the one or more passageways 134, is less than 0.001 mm 3 , 0.001 mm 3 ~0.01 mm 3 , 0.01 mm 3 ~0.1 mm 3 , 0.1 mm 3 ~1 mm 3 , or 1 mm 3 or more.

[0141] The atomic source material can be loaded into the first housing 108 prior to the engagement of the one or more caps 111. Additionally or alternatively, the atomic source material can be loaded into the first housing 108 via insertion through the one or more passageways 134. Alternatively or additionally, the atomic source material can be disposed on the inner surface of the first housing 108 during the processing of the first housing 108. Additionally or alternatively, the atomic source material can be loaded onto the surface of the one or more caps 111 prior to engagement with the first housing 108.

[0142] The atomic source material can be calcium, such as powdered calcium. The atomic source material can be liquid and can be loaded into the first housing 108 under an inert gas. The atomic source material can be a material other than calcium, such as another Group II element like strontium. Thus, the atomic source material can be a Group II (alkaline earth element) such as Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and / or Ra; a lanthanoid such as Yb, Dy, and / or Er; or a Group I (alkali element) such as Li, Na, and / or K. The atomic source material can be Al.

[0143] The atomic source material can be a relatively low melting point metal such as Rb, Cs, or Hg.

[0144] The oven assembly can be heated to create a solid-vapor equilibrium within the first housing. The substantial vapor pressure (with respect to the ambient environment, e.g., the ambient vacuum) can typically be achieved at a temperature hundreds of Kelvin lower than the melting point of the atomic source material.

[0145] Figures 6A - 6C show front views of the oven assembly 104 according to an embodiment.

[0146] Referring to Figure 6A, the first housing 108 is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120 by one or more supports 124 that are spokes, such as substantially straight spokes.

[0147] Referring to Figure 6B, the first housing 108 is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120 by a support 124 that is a helical spoke.

[0148] Referring to Figure 6C, the first housing 108 is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120 by a support 124 that is a series of counter-rotating helical spokes designed to provide rigid support while maximizing the heat conduction path length to the second housing 120.

[0149] Referring to FIG. 6D, the first housing 108 is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120 by a single support 124 that is a membrane such as a substantially planar membrane.

[0150] The support 124 is preferably designed and optimized to provide rigid mechanical support in most directions, with a controlled degree of tolerance with respect to the seal of the cap 111 along the direction of engagement with the first housing 108, while maintaining very high thermal insulation against conductive heat loss between the first housing 108 and the second housing 120 (i.e., if some supports also support the cap 111, the support can be configured such that the cap 111 engages the first housing 108 and is biased against the first housing 108 to seal the first housing 108 with the cap 111). Thus, preferably, the support 124 comprises a series of counter-rotating helical spokes as shown in FIG. 6C, which increases the length of the heat conduction path to the second housing 120 while providing rigid support for the first housing 108. For example, as shown in FIG. 6C, the counter-rotating helical support 124 can form a configuration that follows the shape of a rose petal, and pairs of counter-rotating helical spoke sets 124 can converge at a junction 138 to form the tip of each rose petal shape. However, the maximum length achievable (for a given arm thickness) is limited by the finite length of the intersection region that provides a thermal "short circuit".

[0151] Thus, alternatively or additionally, the support 124 may comprise a series of counter-rotating helical spokes that do not mechanically cross at the joints, such as those shown in FIG. 6B. The first housing 108 may be held in a fixed position relative to the second housing 120 by a first set of helical spokes that rotate in a first direction and a second set of axially shifted helical spokes that rotate in a second direction opposite the first direction, whereby each spoke of the first set and the second set does not mechanically cross any other spoke of the first set and the second set. As will be appreciated, this can prevent problems with crossing and sacrifice lower mechanical stability but allow for much higher thermal impedance.

[0152] Each of the supports 124 may have a substantially square cross-section. Alternatively, each of the supports 124 may have a substantially rectangular cross-section. As will be appreciated, a support having a rectangular cross-section may provide greater axial support along the central axis of the oven assembly 104, for example, compared to a support having a square cross-section.

[0153] However, the greater amount of material required to form a support with a rectangular cross-section may also increase the amount of heat conducted from the first housing 108 to the second housing 120 compared to a support with a square cross-section. Thus, the supports 124 are preferably designed and optimized to provide rigid mechanical support in most directions while maintaining very high insulation against conductive heat loss between the first housing 108 and the second housing 120, and optionally, with a controlled degree of tolerance for sealing the cap 111 axially along the central axis (i.e., if some supports also support the cap 111, the supports may be configured such that the cap 111 engages the first housing 108 and is biased axially against the first housing 108 to seal the first housing 108 with the cap 111).

[0154] In an embodiment, each of the supports has a cross-section having one of a circular shape, an elliptical shape, a regular polygon shape, or an irregular polygon shape, the cross-section being taken at a point along the support and lying in a plane, and the tangent direction of the support at that point being the surface normal of the plane. In an embodiment, the support can have a uniform cross-section, a uniform curvature, and a uniform path length.

[0155] In an alternative embodiment, the support can have a cross-section that varies as a function of the position along the support and can optionally or alternatively have a non-uniform curvature. Further, in embodiments having a plurality of supports, one or more of the supports can have different characteristics (such as cross-section and / or path length) from other supports among the plurality of supports.

[0156] Each support can have an overall length of from 0.5 mm to 2.5 cm as measured from the end connected to the inner housing to the end connected to the outer housing. Each support can have an overall length of less than 0.5 mm or greater than 2.5 cm.

[0157] Similarly, in embodiments including one or more cap supports 125, the one or more cap supports can have one or more of the characteristics of the one or more supports 124 described above. For example, the cap support 125 can include two sets of counter-rotating helical spokes 125 for holding the cap 111 in a fixed position relative to the outer cap housing 121, and the two sets of counter-rotating helical spokes are in the same plane such that the spokes from either set mechanically cross each other, similar to those described above.

[0158] As shown in FIGS. 1A - 1C, the passage 134 can simply be an aperture within the wall of the first housing. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4B, 4C, and FIGS. 5A - 5D, the passage 134 can be a substantially linear channel having an aspect ratio defined as the ratio of length to diameter, such that spatially propagating neutral atoms are collimated from the interior to the exterior of the first housing 108 through at least one passage so as to form a neutral atom beam. For example, the aspect ratio can be one of 2:1 - 10:1, 10:1 - 30:1, 30:1 - 50:1, or greater than 50:1. Preferably, the aspect ratio is about 33:1.

[0159] As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, and FIGS. 5A and 5B, the oven assembly 104 can include a plurality of passages 134 provided by the first housing 108 and / or at least one cap 111, and these passages are arranged substantially parallel to form an array of distinct assemblies of spatially propagating atoms, such as an array of substantially parallel neutral atom beams.

[0160] The oven assembly 104 can further include a metal layer on the outer surface of the oven assembly 104.

[0161] In embodiments where the oven assembly comprises an integral part, or in embodiments where the oven assembly comprises two parts 104a, 104b, the parts can be manufactured via laser - enhanced etching or laser - assisted etching. The parts can be formed from a silica body, for example, pure fused silica. The parts can be manufactured or micro - machined from a single monolithic block of fused silica via femtosecond laser - assisted chemical etching. The silica parts can then be coated with a thin metal layer, for example, by sputter - coating a Ti / Au stack, which helps ensure that the emissivity from the surface of the silica parts is reduced to a percentage level such as less than 10%. This reduction in emissivity makes the radiative losses negligible when operating the oven at the temperature required for ion loading.

[0162] In an embodiment, the coating can be achieved via magnetron sputtering. The thin metal layer can be at least 10 nm thick. In embodiments including a Ti / Au coating, the thickness of the coating (Ti:Au) can be from 10 nm:70 nm to 30 nm:300 nm.

[0163] In one embodiment, the assembled oven assembly 104 as a whole can have a diameter of approximately 3 mm and a depth of approximately 2 mm, but it will be understood that substantially smaller oven assemblies can be fabricated. As will be understood, this design is compatible with scalable manufacturing methods.

[0164] After coating, a small area of the coating can be ablated or otherwise removed to form an uncoated heating area (e.g., heating area 102 in FIG. 1A) to allow entry of the operating EM radiation 112. Alternatively, the small area can be treated prior to coating such that the small area remains uncoated during the coating procedure. As will be understood, the EM radiation 112 can be directed to impinge on the uncoated heating laser area.

[0165] In embodiments where the EM radiation 112 is directed through the passage 134, the surface facing the interior of the first housing 108 can remain uncoated.

[0166] As a result of reducing radiation losses to the environment due to the coating of the oven assembly 104, the first housing 108 can be maintained at a high operating temperature (typically 400 - 800 K) with minimal total losses.

[0167] In an embodiment, the coating on the surface facing the interior of the inner housing 108 can also be ablated or otherwise removed (or can be treated prior to coating such that the surface facing the interior remains uncoated) so as to maximize heat transfer from the surface facing the interior of the inner housing 108 to the atomic source material 110 housed therein.

[0168] In some embodiments, the oven assembly 104 can be formed from a carbon-based material and / or an amorphous material, as well as from silica, and the body so formed can then be coated with a different metal layer such as Pt / Au. It will be appreciated that many materials can be suitable for the body of the oven assembly 104 so long as they have high mechanical stability or strength and low thermal conductivity.

[0169] The EM radiation source 106 can be, for example, a continuous wave laser having a wavelength of 2.7 microns to target the corresponding absorption line of silica. However, it will be recognized that the wavelength of the heating laser is generally not critical when absorption occurs through multiple scatterings within the oven assembly 104. In an embodiment, the laser has a wavelength corresponding to a prominent absorption line of the material from which the body of the oven assembly 104 is constructed. Further, the spectral quality of the laser beam 112 is also not critical. The output requirements of the laser can generally be on the order of just a few milliwatts.

[0170] Collimator A portion of the first housing 108 may extend away from the internal volume 109 of the first housing 108 and may provide a relatively large aspect ratio to one or more passages 134 therethrough, for example, to substantially collimate free neutral atoms passing therethrough to form a neutral atom beam. Thus, this portion may be referred to as a collimator 122, as particularly shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, which show cross-sections along the central plane of two different embodiments of the collimator geometry. In these two figures, a plurality of supports 124 are shown as annular disks spanning between the first housing 108 and the second housing 120 (FIG. 7B), or between the first housing 108 and the second housing 120 and between the second housing 120 and the collimator 122 (FIG. 7A).

[0171] In embodiments comprising a collimator 122, an uncoated heating region may be located on or adjacent to the collimator 122 (this may help ensure that the collimator 122 is the hottest region of the oven assembly 204).

[0172] The oven assembly 104 may be configured such that the EM radiation 112 is incident on a surface facing outwardly of the collimator 122, for example, a surface directed towards the target region 118 of FIG. 3A, such that the EM radiation 112 irradiates the collimator 122. Thus, heating of the inner housing 108 may be achieved via heat conduction from the collimator 122, which itself is heated by absorbing the incident laser beam 112. As will be appreciated, atomic ovens (e.g., for ion trap experiments) have conventionally avoided the use of collimators because their narrow capillaries can easily become clogged unless they are reliably maintained at a higher temperature than the rest of the oven.

[0173] However, the inventors have additionally discovered that embodiments of the present invention help to ensure that the collimator 122 is always in the hottest region of the oven assembly 104, which as a result additionally prevents such blockages. The collimator 122 can be oriented to direct atoms exiting the passageway 134 as the atomic beam 114 towards the target region 118. Thus, the collimator geometry can help to ensure that substantially all of the atoms emitted by the oven assembly 104 pass through the target region 118 (e.g., the ion trap region 118). As a result, the configuration of the present invention provides very high geometric efficiency.

[0174] When the first housing 108 is heated (in particular, when heated via heat conduction of the heat generated by the collimator 122 during absorption of the EM radiation 112 by the collimator 122), at least some atoms are liberated from the atomic source material housed within the inner housing 108, and a relatively weak but well-collimated and stable flux is emitted from the passageway 134 of the collimator 122. In embodiments, since the collimator 122 is the hottest region of the system, atomic material deposition (e.g., via condensation) within the passageway 134 of the collimator 122 is prevented such that the passageway 134 receives minimal or substantially no blockage.

[0175] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7B, the collimator 122 of the oven assembly 104 protrudes so as to extend a distance 138 from the front face (i.e., the face oriented towards the target region 118) of the second housing 120 of the oven assembly 104. As will be appreciated, this configuration enables the collimator 122 to be irradiated substantially radially by an EM radiation source such as a laser (i.e., along an axis orthogonal to the central axis or axis of symmetry of the oven assembly, e.g., along an axis orthogonal to the axis along which the passageway 134 of the collimator 122 is oriented) via the incident beam.

[0176] Figure 7A shows that the oven assembly 104 with low isolation of the collimator 122 from the first housing 108 results in a weaker temperature difference. Thus, the collimator 122 of Figure 7A is configured for axial heating via EM radiation (i.e., via EM radiation incident on the front as shown in Figures 1B and 3A and 3B).

[0177] Figure 7B shows an oven assembly 104 having a collimator 122 that protrudes to increase the temperature difference and enables radial heating via EM radiation (as described above) and axial heating via EM radiation.

[0178] The collimator 122 shown in Figures 7A and 7B is shown as part of a two-piece oven assembly, but it will be understood that the collimator 122 can be provided in embodiments where the entire oven assembly is formed from a single piece.

[0179] Optical fiber Figure 8 shows cross-sectional side views of three stages (A)-(C) for constructing a system 100 for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms. Here, the system 100 includes an oven assembly 104 and an EM radiation source 106 for creating EM radiation 112. The EM radiation source 106 is coupled to the oven assembly 104 by an optical fiber 107 that transmits the EM radiation 112 from the radiation source 106 to the oven assembly 104. As shown, the internal chamber 109 of the first housing 108 of the oven assembly 104 has a forward passage forming the collimator 122 and a rearward passage 135. The collimator 122 comprises a substantially conical body surrounding the forward passage therethrough. As will be appreciated, the collimator 122 having a cone can enable the oven assembly 104 to be positioned closer to the target region 118 (e.g., the outlet of the passage of the collimator 122 can be positioned closer to the target region 118).

[0180] In step (A), the source material 110 is inserted into the interior 109 of the first housing 108 through the rearward passage 135.

[0181] In step (B), the rearward passage 135 is blocked via the optical fiber 107. The end of the optical fiber can be held within the rearward passage 135 via an interference fit.

[0182] In step (C), the optical fiber 107 is coupled to the EM radiation source 106, and the EM radiation 112 from the EM radiation source 106 is transmitted through the optical fiber 107 into the interior 109 of the first housing 108. In this way, the EM radiation 112 can directly impinge on the source material 110 (or at least directly on the inner surface of the first housing 108). As will be appreciated, this can result in a higher efficiency of energy transmission to the source material 110 housed within the interior 109 of the first housing 108. Thus, the atomic source material 110 housed within the first housing 108 is heated as discussed above so that atoms are liberated from the source material 110 to form spatially propagating neutral atoms such as the neutral atom beam 114.

[0183] Of course, the optical fiber 107 does not necessarily have to block the rearward passage 135 (or actually, a lateral passage 135 if desired). For example, in an embodiment, the optical fiber 107 can be positioned in contact with or adjacent to the surface (e.g., the outer surface) of the first housing 108 regardless of whether the first housing 108 has a passage 135. As will be appreciated, this setup still retains the advantage of providing the first housing 108 with the EM radiation 112 when a direct line of sight from the EM radiation source 106 to the oven assembly 104 is not possible.

[0184] Outermost housing As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the oven assembly 104 may include a third outermost housing 140 that at least partially surrounds the second housing. Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the oven assembly 104 is formed from a first component 104a and a second component 104b (as described above with respect to FIG. 5D, for example). Together, components 104a and 104b provide a first housing 108, a second housing 120, and a support 124, as described above (and as shown in FIG. 9B). The oven assembly further includes a further third housing 140, which is the outermost housing 140.

[0185] The outermost housing 140 has a passage 146 at one end and an opening at the other end, and the opening opens onto the internal volume of the outermost housing 140 for receiving the first component 104a and the second component 104b via a tolerance fit. The first component 104a and the second component 104b can be inserted through the opening such that the collimator 122 (or passage 134 if required) faces the passage 146 of the outermost housing 140. A stop 148 is provided on the inner surface of the outermost housing 146 to prevent the first component 104a and the second component 104b from being further inserted in the direction towards the passage 146. This prevents contact between the collimator 122 and the inner surface of the outermost housing 146, which can prevent damage to the collimator 122.

[0186] The diameter of the passage 146 is larger than the diameter of the passage 134 of the collimator 122, such that the spatially propagating neutral atoms exiting the passage 134 of the collimator 122 are not substantially restricted or obstructed by the inner surface of the passage 146 of the outermost housing.

[0187] The outermost housing 140 includes a cap 142 for closing the opening, and a clip 144 for biasing the cap 142 onto the second component 104b when the first component 104a and the second component 104b are received within the inner volume of the outermost housing 140. The cap 142 is biased against the second component 104b by the clip 144, whereby the first component 104a and the second component 104b are pushed together against the stop portion 148. As will be appreciated, the clip 144 may be configured to flex outwardly when the cap 142 is first inserted into the opening of the outermost housing 146, and then to clip inwardly after the cap 142 has been inserted a certain distance within the outermost housing 146, and be configured to further bias the cap 142 in the direction towards the passage 146.

[0188] In this way, the first component 104a and the second component 104b are firmly held together within the outermost housing 146 so as to be protected by the outermost housing 146. That is, the outermost housing can be held and manipulated by the user in a state where there is less risk of damaging the more delicate first component 104a and second component 104b fixed therein. Further, the oven assembly 104 can be oriented in any direction without the first component 104a and the second component 104b disassembling due to gravity, and further facilitates the handling and orientation of the assembly components during the process of adding source materials. Therefore, the oven assembly 104 including the outermost housing 104 is particularly robust.

[0189] As will be appreciated, the cap 142 may include an aperture into which the optical fiber 107 can be inserted such that the source material 110 housed within the oven assembly can be heated in the manner described above with reference to FIG. 8. As will be appreciated, the aperture within the cap 142 for receiving the optical fiber 107 is relatively cool because it is further away from the interior 109 of the oven assembly, which is the hottest region. Thus, an adhesive can be advantageously used at the aperture of the cap 142 to secure a portion of the optical fiber 107 to the cap 142.

[0190] The cap 142, the outermost housing 140, the first component 104a, and the second component 104b can all be formed from the same homogeneous material, such as silica, as described herein.

[0191] Oven operation The inventors have additionally discovered that the system 100 can be operated in a "steady state", e.g., always on, regardless of the presence or absence of the collimator 122. As will be understood, when the system 100 can be operated in a steady state, the loading of neutral atoms (e.g., the neutral atom beam 114) generated from the oven assembly 104 into the target region 118, which is the ion trap region, can be purely controlled through the application of an optical ionization laser pulse (separate from the laser beam 112) that is virtually instantaneous on the relevant time scale. A very low total flux of atoms emitted from the oven is required to enable steady state operation without contaminating the surrounding evacuated ultra-high vacuum environment.

[0192] The flux required to rapidly load a typical ion trap is about 1000 per second passing through the ionization region. However, conventional ovens emit atoms within a hemisphere, and only 10 ppm of these pass through the target ion trap region. In contrast, due to features of the present invention such as the quality of collimation, delivery accuracy, close positioning of the oven assembly to the target region (due to the low heat load of the oven assembly on the surrounding system), and / or controlled energy input from EM radiation 112 to the oven assembly 104, a relatively weak or sparse assembly of spatially propagating neutral atoms (e.g., a weak neutral atom beam) 114 having a flux many orders of magnitude lower than conventional oven designs can be generated. As a result, the level of the neutral atom flux can have a negligible impact on the vacuum quality, such that it is suitable for operation under the stringent conditions required, for example, by ion trap quantum computing operations.

[0193] In embodiments, the oven assembly 104 in use can generate an assembly of spatially propagating neutral atoms 114 having a flux of less than 100 atoms per second, 100 - 1000 atoms per second, 1000 - 2000 atoms per second, or greater than 2000 atoms per second. Preferably, the assembly of spatially propagating neutral atoms 114 is generated with a flux of about 750 atoms per second.

[0194] In addition, although not desired to be bound by theory, the initial "cracking" of the oven assembly 104 may no longer pose a threat to short - circuit, coat, or otherwise damage components (e.g., ion trap electrodes 117 associated with the ion trap region 118) within a broader surrounding system such as an ion trap system. As understood, cracking is a process that removes an oxide layer that may be formed on the source material. For example, the oxide layer can be formed during the loading of atomic material in a typical oven.

[0195] Therefore, the initial operation of a typical oven may require uncontrolled high-temperature cracking of the oxide layer on the source metal. Thus, a typical oven may require a more complex mechanism to temporarily block the atomic beam generated during the cracking operation to avoid short-circuiting and contamination of the trap electrode 117. In contrast, in an embodiment, the passage 134 or the collimator 122 can force any contaminants that are emitted into a controlled region of the surrounding structure designed to act as a "dump" for the atomic beam. This eliminates the need for a complex mechanism to block the oven beam during bake-out and commissioning.

[0196] In an embodiment, the "minimal possible" version of the oven assembly according to the embodiments described herein is determined through the constraints of the processing method. For example, with current conventional processing limits, the minimum collimator diameter can be 5 microns, the minimum positive feature width can be 10 microns (below which the process reliability is very low), and the oven assembly can be considered to be slightly larger than 0.5 mm in any dimension. As is understood, advancements in the processing process are likely to enable the fabrication of oven assemblies having a size less than 0.5 mm in any dimension.

[0197] Conventional ovens typically house sufficient calcium (or other atomic source material) for hundreds of thousands of years of operation, i.e., they are much larger than necessary. In practice, 0.05 mm 3A simple pinhole source of the volume is sufficient, but a source of about 1 cubic micron (with suitable collimation) would be sufficient for hundreds of years of operation. To fabricate such a small device, microfabrication techniques are required. This can potentially increase the complexity when fabricating an oven assembly consisting of a heterogeneous mixture of different parts such as insulating and conductive parts required for an electrically heated oven assembly. In contrast, however, the oven assembly of the present invention can be processed from homogeneous components, which is relatively uncomplicated, and new techniques such as laser-enhanced etching make the microscale precision manufacturing of glass devices simple and inexpensive even on a small scale.

[0198] Accordingly, in an embodiment, the oven assembly has a diameter of any dimension from 0.001 mm to 0.01 mm, 0.01 mm to 0.1 mm, 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm, 0.5 mm to 1 mm, 1 mm to 5 mm, or greater than 5 mm.

[0199] Thus, the design parameters of the oven assembly can be optimized to maximize performance metrics, for example, by adjusting the support thickness, support helical pitch, collimator capillary, and / or collimator geometry, as well as the relative dimensions of the various components of the oven assembly and the overall size of the oven assembly. The performance metrics to be maximized can be, for example, the geometric efficiency of the atomic beam, the velocity of the atomic beam, and / or the heat conduction from the oven assembly to the surrounding system.

[0200] The low heat loss inherent in the design prevents excessive heating of the surrounding traps and associated subsystems during operation, and thus, the present system 100 is compatible with a 4K ultra-low temperature ion trap system. The heat loss at the target operating temperature (e.g., 400K - 500K) can be 20mW, 15mW - 20mW, 10mW - 15mW, 5mW - 10mW, 2mW - 5mW, or less than 2mW. Operation in a 4K ultra-low temperature environment increases these values by about 60%, but in both cases, the impact on the ultra-low temperature heat load remains minimal. A nearly homogeneous structure and a fairly low degree of thermal expansion (e.g., for an oven assembly comprising a body formed from pure fused silica and having a sputtered Ti / Au coating) make ultra-low temperature performance predictable and practical without further modification.

[0201] The low heat loss of the present invention provides a significantly reduced output dissipation compared to existing thermal oven designs, enabling the oven assemblies described herein (which may be located within an ion trap, for example) to operate continuously without a "warm-up" time, and providing means for loading ions, for example, almost instantaneously.

[0202] Thus, the inventors have discovered that the oven assemblies described herein provide means for reliably generating an atomic flux of suitable intensity with minimal waiting time and minimal associated perturbation of the vacuum or trap potential in the associated ion trap region. Further, the oven assemblies described herein have a low-complexity design such that they are simple and inexpensive to construct, have very low power requirements, and can be implemented in both room temperature or ultra-low temperature environments. Additionally, the oven assemblies described herein are small enough to be integrated within the structure of an ion trap "chip," allowing the source to be located much closer to the target loading region than in typical alternative forms.

[0203] Embodiments of the present invention enable an oven assembly to be placed very close to a desired target region with negligible thermal impact on the surrounding structure, while helping to ensure micron-level lateral alignment of the atomic beam to the target and with negligible tilt. For example, the oven assembly can be located at a position less than 0.1 mm, from 0.1 mm to 1 mm, from 1 mm to 5 mm, or more than 5 mm from the target region. Thus, embodiments of the present invention can achieve the collimation required to ensure substantially 100% geometric efficiency and complete suppression of the atomic flux to other system components such as, for example, the surrounding electrodes 117.

[0204] Numerical results As will be appreciated, embodiments of the present invention help to ensure that the oven assembly 104 is highly thermally insulated with a lower output loss of 1 mW or less. Further, the system can be configured to continuously generate a neutral atomic beam with a relatively low flux.

[0205] In embodiments, the collimator 122 may be less susceptible to blockage by free atoms adhering to the inner surface of the collimator channel due to the low atomic flux passing through the collimator channel (in addition to being provided at a higher temperature than the inner housing).

[0206] FIG. 10 shows a polar plot showing the percentage of atomic flux within an atomic beam within a given angle from the atomic beam axis from collimators having different aspect ratios. The aspect ratio is the length of the collimator relative to the collimator diameter, and Γ = 0 represents an orifice (i.e., having a collimator length that is as small as almost none). These are all normalized to have the same diameter.

[0207] In an embodiment, the high geometric efficiency of the present invention, combined with a low and stable thermal load on surrounding system components, means that the operation of the oven assembly is not expected to increase the background pressure within the surrounding system, such as the ultra-high vacuum in which the components are present. In fact, for example, the effusion rate of calcium atoms leads to a calcium pressure within the trap itself that is several orders of magnitude lower than the effusion rate at the vacuum base pressure at room temperature.

[0208] Although the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. An oven assembly for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms, comprising: a first housing configured to contain an atomic source material; at least one passage from inside the first housing to outside the first housing; a second housing; one or more supports by which the first housing is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing; The oven assembly, wherein the first housing, the second housing, and the one or more supports are formed from a first homogeneous material.

2. The oven assembly according to claim 1, further comprising an integral part including the first housing and the one or more supports.

3. The oven assembly according to claim 2, wherein the integral part consists of the first housing, the second housing, and the one or more supports, and the first housing includes the at least one passage.

4. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first housing is held in a fixed position relative to the second housing only by the one or more supports.

5. (i) One or more regions of the surface of the first housing are configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source to release atoms from the atomic source material contained therein, and / or (ii) The first housing is configured to contain the atomic source material such that one or more regions of the surface of the atomic source material contained therein are configured to be heated by irradiation from a light source to release atoms from the atomic source material, The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one passage is configured to allow the released atoms to pass through the at least one passage to form spatially propagating neutral atoms.

6. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first housing is held in a fixed position within the second housing such that the first housing is at least partially surrounded or enclosed by the second housing.

7. The oven assembly comprises a plurality of passages. (i) The first housing includes a plurality of chambers configured to contain atomic source materials, each passage of the plurality of passages extending from the inside of each of the plurality of chambers to the outside of the first housing, or (ii) The first housing includes one chamber configured to contain atomic source materials, each passage of the plurality of passages extending from the inside of the chamber to the outside of the first housing, the oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. Each passage of the plurality of passages extends from the inside of the chamber to the outside of the first housing, a first passage of the plurality of passages being provided on a first side of the chamber, and a second passage of the plurality of passages being provided on a second side of the chamber opposite the first side, the oven assembly according to claim 7.

9. A first component including the first housing, at least a portion of the second housing, and at least a portion of the one or more supports; A second component including at least one cap configured to engage with the first housing, the oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The second component is joined to the first component by, for example, anodic bonding, optical contact bonding, eutectic bonding, thermocompression bonding, adhesive bonding, brazing, or sintering, the oven assembly according to claim 9.

11. The at least one cap is attached to the first housing by a clip or friction fit, the oven assembly according to claim 9 or 10.

12. The second component further includes an outer cap housing and one or more cap supports, the at least one cap being held in a fixed position relative to the outer cap housing by the one or more cap supports, and optionally, when the second component is arranged and configured to engage with the first component, the one or more cap supports are configured to bias the at least one cap against the first housing so as to seal the first housing with the at least one cap, the oven assembly according to any one of claims 9 to 11.

13. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the second component is formed from a second homogeneous material.

14. The oven assembly according to claim 13, wherein the first homogeneous material and the second homogeneous material are the same homogeneous material.

15. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 7 to 14, wherein each of the first component and the second component is a one-piece component.

16. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 7 to 15, comprising at least one cap passage passing through the at least one cap so as to provide at least one passage for fluidly connecting the interior of the first housing to the exterior of the at least one cap when the at least one cap engages the first housing.

17. The first housing comprises the at least one passage, the at least one cap comprises at least one cap passage passing through the at least one cap, The oven assembly according to any one of claims 7 to 15, wherein when the at least one cap engages the first housing, the at least one passage is provided on an opposite side of the interior of the first housing with respect to the at least one cap passage.

18. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 7 to 17, further comprising a third housing, the third housing at least partially surrounding the first component and the second component, the third housing being configured to bias the first component and the second component together to seal the first housing with the at least one cap.

19. The third housing comprises a third housing cap, a clip, and a stop on an inner surface of the third housing, and The oven assembly according to claim 18, wherein the clip is configured to bias the third housing cap in a direction towards the top to bias the first component and the second component together against the stop.

20. The oven assembly according to claim 19, wherein the third housing cap includes an aperture therethrough.

21. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the one or more supports, or the one or more cap supports, comprise one or more of spokes, membranes, filaments, or combinations thereof.

22. The oven assembly according to claim 21, wherein the spokes comprise a plurality of helical spokes.

23. The plurality of helical spokes comprise a first set of helical spokes rotating in a first direction and a second set of helical spokes rotating in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and at least one helical spoke from one of the first set or the second set mechanically intersects at least one helical spoke from the other of the first set or the second set, or comprise a first set of helical spokes rotating in a first direction and a second set of helical spokes rotating in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and each spoke of the first set and the second set does not mechanically intersect any other spoke of the first set and the second set. The oven assembly according to claim 22.

24. The at least one passage has an aspect ratio of at least 2:1, defined as the ratio of length to diameter, such that the spatially propagating neutral atoms are collimated from the interior to the exterior through the at least one passage so as to form a neutral atom beam. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 23.

25. The oven assembly according to claim 24, wherein the aspect ratio is one of 2:1 to 10:1, 10:1 to 30:1, 30:1 to 50:1, or greater than 50:

1.

26. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 25, comprising a plurality of passages arranged substantially parallel to form an array of separately spatially propagating neutral atoms.

27. The oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 26, further comprising a metal layer on the outer surface region of the oven assembly, the metal layer having a thickness of at least 10 nm.

28. A system for generating spatially propagating neutral atoms, comprising the oven assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 27, and A heating mechanism for heating the oven assembly to release atoms from the atomic source material contained within the oven assembly, wherein the released atoms pass through the at least one passage to form spatially propagating neutral atoms, and a system comprising the heating mechanism.

29. The system according to claim 28, wherein the heating mechanism comprises one or more regions of a surface of the first housing configured to be heated by irradiation from the light source, and / or one or more regions of a surface of the at least one cap configured to be heated by irradiation from the light source, and / or an electromagnetic radiation source configured to irradiate one or more regions of a surface of the atomic source material.

30. The system according to claim 29, further comprising an optical fiber arranged to transmit radiation from the source to the oven assembly.

31. The system according to claim 30, wherein an end of the optical fiber is inserted through an aperture of the first housing of the oven assembly so as to be configured to irradiate an inner surface of the first housing and / or the atomic source material.

32. The system according to any one of claims 28 to 31, wherein the source has a wavelength substantially corresponding to a prominent absorption line of the first homogeneous material and / or the second homogeneous material.

33. An ion trap system comprising the system according to any one of claims 28 to 32 and an ion trap having an ion trap region, wherein the at least one passage is configured to direct the atomic beam towards the ion trap region.

34. A method for generating a neutral atom beam using the system according to claims 28 to 32, comprising: (i) heating the oven assembly using the heating mechanism to release atoms from the atomic source material; and (ii) generating spatially propagating neutral atoms from at least some of the released atoms passing through the at least one passage.

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