Rapid axial loading of a grating MOT with a cold-atom beam

Abstract Laser-cooled atoms are increasingly being used to realise practical quantum devices, motivating the development of compact and robust atom sources. Grating magneto-optical traps (gMOTs) simplify the cold-atom source architecture but are typically vapour-loaded and provide limited atomic flux. Here we explore the loading of gMOTs from cold-atom beams. We numerically simulate loading to show that unbalanced diffracted beams deflect incoming atoms away from the trap centre, thereby strongly constraining radial loading. In contrast, axial loading injects atoms directly into the trapping volume and largely avoids these effects. We experimentally demonstrate rapid axial loading of a gMOT, achieving loading rates of $2.1 \times 10^{9}$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mn>2.1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>9</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> atoms s −1 using a moving optical molasses to transfer atoms from a 2D MOT into the gMOT. These results establish axial loading as a robust route to high-flux gMOT operation for portable cold-atom systems.