We have simultaneously confined fermionic
84Rb and bosonic
87Rb atoms in overlapping magneto-optical traps in which radioactive
84Rb atoms
(t1/2=33 d) have been trapped. We investigated
84Rb trap loss when overlapped with a cloud of
87Rb atoms trapped from a background rubidium vapor. Collision loss measurements were taken with $\ensuremath{\sim}5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$ and $\ensuremath{\sim}4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$ atoms of trapped
84Rb and
87Rb, respectively. We have found a trapping solution for which there is negligible additional trap loss for
84Rb due to the presence of
87Rb, showing that the mixture can be readily prepared for a sympathetic cooling experiment.
In this article we review our recent experiments with a 40K‐87Rb mixture. We demonstrate rapid sympathetic cooling of a 40K‐87Rb mixture to dual quantum degeneracy on an atom chip. We also provide details on efficient BEC production, species‐selective magnetic confinement, and progress toward integration of an optical lattice with an atom chip. The efficiency of our evaporation allows us to reach dual degeneracy after just 6 s of evaporation ‐ more rapidly than in conventional magnetic traps. When optimizing evaporative cooling for efficient evaporation of 87Rb alone we achieve BEC after just 4 s of evaporation and an 8 s total cycle time.