Laser Cooling Lithium in a Zeeman Slower for Neutrino Mass Experiments

The Project 8 neutrino mass experiment aims to make a direct measurement of the mass of the neutrino via cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) of tritium beta decay electrons. As large quantities of radioactive gas are difficult to handle for R&D, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is developing a pathfinder experiment based on atomic lithium to prototype and characterize the proposed atomic tritium beamline. The Zeeman slower cools hot lithium atoms using a counter-propagating laser which leverages convenient energy transitions, which are not available in hydrogen isotopes. The frequency shift due to the doppler effect is matched with a Zeeman shift by a slowly decreasing magnetic field, induced by a set of copper coils, along the length of the slower. The result is a few-kelvin beam of lithium atoms. In this talk, I will report on the Project 8 atomic lithium R&D program, its atom source, Zeeman slower and laser diagnostics.