English

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

Statistical Mechanics 2009-11-07 v2

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 1x10^7 40K and 2x10^9 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.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0108287,
  title  = {Two-species magneto-optical trap with 40K and 87Rb},
  author = {J. Goldwin and S. B. Papp and B. DeMarco and D. S. Jin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0108287},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

4 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review A