Evaporative cooling of atomic chromium

Abstract

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 \ensuremath{\sim}1 K. The chromium atoms are then cooled adiabatically and evaporatively to temperatures as low as \ensuremath{\sim}10 mK. Elastic and inelastic ${}^{52}\mathrm{Cr}$ collisional cross sections are measured over this temperature range. Prospects for simultaneously creating a ${}^{52}\mathrm{Cr}$ Bose-Einstein condensate and ${}^{53}\mathrm{Cr}$ Fermi degenerate gas will be discussed.