Preferred laser-cooling configuration for AICE atom sources

Determine which laser-cooling configuration should be used for the AICE strontium and ytterbium atom sources to achieve the required cold-atom flux and phase-noise performance.

Background

The AICE facility requires high-flux, ultracold strontium and ytterbium sources for its Baseline and Stretch sensitivity targets. Several approaches are under consideration, including continuous Bose–Einstein-condensate sources, continuous strontium reservoirs, and other laser-cooling configurations. The proposal keeps the facility compatible with multiple options because the collaboration has not yet selected the preferred configuration.

References

It is not yet clear which laser cooling configuration will be preferred, so the AICE facility will be kept compatible with any option.

— Technical Proposal for the Atom Interferometer CERN Experiment (AICE) Facility  (2608.18743 - Arduini et al., 19 Aug 2026) in Section 4, Subsection “Atom sources”

Alternative implementations based on ${171}$Yb are also possible and remain under investigation.

— Technical Proposal for the Atom Interferometer CERN Experiment (AICE) Facility  (2608.18743 - Arduini et al., 19 Aug 2026) in Section 3, Subsection “Axion-like particles (ALPs),” paragraph “Realisation in AICE”