Simultaneous Magneto-Optical Trapping of Bosonic and Fermionic Chromium Atoms

• Main Authors: Chicireanu, R, Pouderous, A, Barbe, R, Laburthe-Tolra, B, Marechal, E, Vernac, L, Keller, J. -C, Gorceix, O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 03-03-2006
• Subjects: Physics - Quantum Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0603028

We report on magneto-optical trapping of fermionic 53Cr atoms. A
Zeeman-slowed atomic beam provides loading rates up to 3 10^6 /s. We present
systematic characterization of the magneto-optical trap (MOT). We obtain up to
5 10^5 atoms in the steady state MOT. The atoms radiatively decay from the
excited P state into metastable D states, and, due to the large dipolar
magnetic moment of chromium atoms in these states, they can remain magnetically
trapped in the quadrupole field gradient of the MOT. We study the accumulation
of metastable 53Cr atoms into this magnetic trap. We also report on the first
simultaneous magneto-optical trapping of bosonic 52Cr and fermionic 53Cr atoms.
Finally, we characterize the light assisted collision losses in this Bose-Fermi
cold mixture.