  We demonstrate production of cold atomic strontium (Sr) and
strontium-containing molecules (SrOH) in a cryogenic buffer gas beam source via
direct heating of strontium oxide (SrO) with 30 mJ laser pulses several
milliseconds long. $3.7(2)\times10^{14}$ Sr atoms are released, which
represents a factor of 7 increase in atomic production per pulse compared to
nanosecond-scale ablation laser pulses. A peak atomic density of $1.93(6)
\times 10^{12}$ atoms/cm$^3$ is achieved, which corresponds to a factor of 2
increase relative to ablation. We further propose extensions of this method to
other atomic and molecular species.
