Characterization of a Zeeman Slower Designed for a 87 Sr Optical Clock

Sammanfattning: Optical clocks will potentially become the new frequency standard for the SI-definition of the second. Many national metrology institutes around the world have already implemented different versions of such clocks and others are in process of doing so. At SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, this process has recently begun. This thesis investigates the properties of the Zeeman slower that is to be used as part of the clock. A simple Gaussmeter was constructed from a semiconductor Hall sensor and used to measure the magnetic field profile of the slower. This report also contains the design for an electronic control circuit based on the Arduino platform, which can be used to control the magnetic field. The results showed that the particular slower investigated here will likely not need a control circuit. However, the control circuit can be used in other optical clocks or even in other applications.