A Fermi Mixture of $^{6}Li$ and $^{40}K$

We report on our progress in the construction of a new apparatus for the simultaneous cooling of the Fermionic alkali isotopes $^{6}Li$ and $^{40}K$. Our goal is to cool the mixture to degeneracy and search for novel pairing mechanisms involving Fermions of different masses. We have constructed, for the first time, a 2-D MOT source of cold Li atoms directly loaded from a thermal source, thereby circumventing the need for a Zeeman slower. The 2-D MOT is loaded from an effusive Li oven source and the trapping light is derived from a YAG-pumped dye laser. Atoms captured from the 400C thermal beam are clearly visible trapped in two dimensions by the four intersecting MOT beams. Furthermore we have constructed and realized a 2-D MOT for $^{40}K$ and a double recapture MOT mixing both species. We plan to soon start loading the mixture into an optically plugged magnetic trap for evaporative cooling.