We demonstrate laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of europium. The atoms are optically pumped to a metastable state and then loaded from an atomic-beam source via conventional Zeeman slowing and magneto-optical trapping techniques using a $J=13/2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}J=15/2$ quasicyclic transition. The trapped populations contained up to $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$ atoms, and a two-body loss rate is estimated as $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}10}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}/\mathrm{s}$ from the nonexponential loss of atoms at high densities. We also observed leakage out of the quasicyclic transition to the two metastable states with
J=9/2 and
11/2, which is adequate to pump the laser-cooled atoms back to the
J=7/2 ground state.
We report on magneto-optical trapping of fermionic
53Cr atoms. A Zeeman-slowed atomic beam provides loading rates up to $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. We present systematic characterization of the magneto-optical trap (MOT). We obtain up to $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$ atoms in the steady-state MOT. The atoms radiatively decay from the excited
P state into metastable
D states, and, due to the large dipolar magnetic moment of chromium atoms in these states, they can remain magnetically trapped in the quadrupole field gradient of the MOT. We study the accumulation of metastable
53Cr atoms in this magnetic trap. We also report on the simultaneous magneto-optical trapping of bosonic
52Cr and fermionic
53Cr atoms. Finally, we characterize the light-assisted collision losses in this Bose-Fermi cold mixture.