Evaporative cooling of atomic chromium

We report the magnetic trapping and evaporative cooling of bosonic and fermionic isotopes of atomic chromium. Using a cryogenic helium buffer gas, 10(12) chromium atoms are trapped at an initial temperature of similar to1 K. The chromium atoms are then cooled adiabatically and evaporatively to temperatures as low as similar to10 mK. Elastic and inelastic Cr-52 collisional cross sections are measured over this temperature range. Prospects for simultaneously creating a Cr-52 Bose-Einstein condensate and Cr-53 Fermi degenerate gas will be discussed.