Two-species five-beam magneto-optical trap for erbium and dysprosium

Abstract

We report on the first realization of a two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the highly magnetic erbium and dysprosium atoms. The MOT operates on an intercombination line for the respective species. Owing to the narrow-line character of such a cooling transition and the action of gravity, we demonstrate a trap geometry employing only five beams in the orthogonal configuration. We observe that the mixture is cooled and trapped very efficiently, with up to $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8}$ Er atoms and ${10}^{9}$ Dy atoms at temperatures of about 10 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. Our results offer an ideal starting condition for the creation of a dipolar quantum mixture of highly magnetic atoms.