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Two-species magneto-optical trap with 40K and 87Rb

J. Goldwin, S. B. Papp, B. DeMarco, D. S. Jin

cond-mat.stat-mecharXiv:cond-mat/0108287

Abstract

We trap and cool a gas composed of 40K and 87Rb, using a two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT). This trap represents the first step towards cooling the Bose-Fermi mixture to quantum degeneracy. Laser light for the MOT is derived from laser diodes and amplified with a single high power semiconductor amplifier chip. The four-color laser system is described, and the single-species and two-species MOTs are characterized. Atom numbers of 1x107 40K and 2x109 87Rb are trapped in the two-species MOT. Observation of trap loss due to collisions between species is presented and future prospects for the experiment are discussed.

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