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

We present the design, implementation and characterization of a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for fermionic Li-6 and K-40 atoms with large atom numbers. The MOT simultaneously contains 5.2 x 10(9) Li-6-atoms and 8.0 x 10(9) K-40-atoms, which are continuously loaded by a Zeeman slower for Li-6 and a 2D-MOT for K-40. The atom sources induce capture rates of 1.2 x 10(9) Li-6-atoms/s and 1.4 x 10(9) K-40-atoms/s. Trap losses due to light-induced interspecies collisions of similar to 65% were observed and could be minimized to similar 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.