Large atom number dual-species magneto-optical trap for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms

Armin Ridinger (1) , Saptarishi Chaudhuri (1) , Thomas Salez (1) , Ulrich Eismann (1) , Diogo Rio Fernandes (1) , David Wilkowski (2, 3) , Frédéric Chevy (1) , Christophe Salomon (1)

1 LKB (Lhomond) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel
2 INLN - Institut Non Linéaire de Nice Sophia-Antipolis
3 CQT - Centre for Quantum Technologies [Singapore]

We present the design, implementation and characterization of a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms with large atom numbers. The MOT simultaneously contains 5.2x10^9 6Li-atoms and 8.0x10^9 40K-atoms, which are continuously loaded by a Zeeman slower for 6Li and a 2D-MOT for 40K. The atom sources induce capture rates of 1.2x10^9 6Li-atoms/s and 1.4x10^9 40K-atoms/s. Trap losses due to light-induced interspecies collisions of ~65% were observed and could be minimized to ~10% by using low magnetic field gradients and low light powers in the repumping light of both atomic species. The described system represents the starting point for the production of a large-atom number quantum degenerate Fermi-Fermi mixture.

Mots clés: ultra-cold gases; Fermi mixtures

Domaines: Gaz Quantiques [cond-mat.quant-gas]

Armin Ridinger, Saptarishi Chaudhuri, Thomas Salez, Ulrich Eismann, Diogo Rio Fernandes, et al.. Large atom number dual-species magneto-optical trap for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms. 2011. ⟨hal-00572485⟩