Atom shutter using bender piezoactuator

A flag-type atom shutter based on a rotating lever that is driven by a bender piezoelectric actuator was developed to manipulate atomic beams. The shutter flag was displaced by ∼10 mm to open and close a 5-mm-diameter aperture with a shutter time of 13 ms that produced small mechanical vibrations. The short-term shutter time stability for each cycle was 0.03 ms and the long-term stability over an average of 20 000 cycles was 0.02 ms. The operational cycle number (lifetime) of the shutter reached 2.0 × 10⁶ cycles after an intermittent operation over a period of eight months in an ultra-high vacuum chamber, and another shutter in an atmospheric environment swung for 2.6 × 10⁷ cycles of continuous operation at 5 Hz for a period of 60 days without major problems. The shutter was shown to be compatible with the operation in an ultra-high vacuum at a low 10^-7 Pa level after a gentle baking treatment.