A cost-effective high-flux source of cold ytterbium atoms

We report a cost-effective way to prepare high-flux slow ytterbium atoms with extremely low-power 399-nm light suitable for the production of quantum degenerate ytterbium gases. By collimating an atomic beam through an array of micro-capillary tubes, we obtain a bright atomic beam through the Zeeman slower operating at low light power of only 15 mW for the source. We achieve the loading rate of 2 × 107 s−1 into the intercombination magneto-optical trap (MOT) and a sufficient steady-state MOT atom number of 2 × 108 for 174Yb atoms. Our apparatus highlights an efficient method to obtain slow ytterbium atoms using a simple low-power 399-nm laser system.