Simultaneous magneto-optical trapping of bosonic and fermionic chromium atoms

We report on magneto-optical trapping of fermionic Cr-53 atoms. A Zeeman-slowed atomic beam provides loading rates up to 3x10(6) s(-1). We present systematic characterization of the magneto-optical trap (MOT). We obtain up to 5x10(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 Cr-53 atoms in this magnetic trap. We also report on the simultaneous magneto-optical trapping of bosonic Cr-52 and fermionic Cr-53 atoms. Finally, we characterize the light-assisted collision losses in this Bose-Fermi cold mixture.