Controllable evaporation of cesium from a dispenser oven

This instrument allows controlled evaporation of the alkali metal cesium over a wide range of evaporation rates. The oven has three unique features. The first is an alkali metal reservoir that uses a dispenser as a cesium source. The heating current of the dispenser controls the evaporation rate allowing generation of an adjustable and stable flow of pure cesium. The second is a blocking valve, which is fully metallic as is the body of the oven. This construction both reduces contamination of the dispenser and enables the oven to be operated up to 300 °C, with only small temperature variations (<5 °C). By minimizing the temperature variation, the built up of the alkali metal at a cold spot is significantly hindered. The last feature is an integral surface ionization detector for measuring and controlling the evaporation rate. The dispenser oven can be easily transferred to the other alkali-metals.