Intense SrF radical beam for molecular cooling experiments.

We have developed a continuous SrF radical beam for the loading of helium buffer gas cooling. The SrF molecules are efficiently generated by high-temperature chemical reaction of the solid precursor SrF(2) with boron in a graphite oven. The beam properties are characterized with laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopic method. We obtain a molecular flux of up to 2.1x10(15) sr(-1) s(-1) at the detection region for all rotational states. The dependence of the flux on oven temperature suggests that even higher flux is possible if a higher temperature in the oven is achieved.