Magneto-optical trapping of chromium atoms - art. no. 053407

We have constructed a magneto-optical trap for chromium atoms. Using trappi ng light at 425 nm and two repumping lasers tuned to intercombination trans itions, over 10(6) atoms were trapped and average densities of over 10(16) m(-3) were obtained. Nonexponential loss of atoms is observed at high densi ties indicating inelastic collisions between trapped atoms. Over a range of trapping conditions, the density-dependent trap loss rate constant beta is extracted from fluorescence decay curves and found to have values in the r ange of 10(-15) m(3) s(-1) much larger than is observed in alkali-metal tra ps.