Alternative Algorithm for Temperature Measurements of Cold Atoms in Cs Fountain Clocks

We report an alternative algorithm to the deconvolution method for obtaining Gaussian velocity distribution for temperature measurements in Cs fountain clocks. We estimate the velocity distribution of the cloud of cold atoms from time-of-flight signals, at different times, by calculating the square speed point by point (PBP). Then, the temperature of the Cs atomic cloud is inferred from the width (e-
^1/2
) of the velocity distribution. We have done an exhaustive comparison of the PBP algorithm with the deconvolution method using both theoretical and experimental data for Gaussian velocity distributions. Finally, when comparing the process to obtain the velocity distribution in both the PBP algorithm and the deconvolution method, it is found that our approach is easier to implement and automate.