Ultracold thermalization of {sup 7}Li and {sup 87}Rb

We report on measurements of cross-species thermalization inside a magnetically trapped spin-polarized mixture of {sup 87}Rb and {sup 7}Li atoms with both atoms in their respective low-field-seeking magnetic substates |F=2,m{sub F}=2>. Measurement of the thermalization velocity in the ultracold regime below 10 {mu}K allows for the derivation of the absolute value of the pure triplet s-wave scattering length governing the interaction. We find |a{sub 7,87}|=(59{+-}19)a{sub B}. We propose to study both species in the condensed regime to derive the sign of a{sub 7,87}. In this context, we present numerical solutions to the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equation based on the hypothesis of a positive sign. According to the simulations, phase separation of the Li and Rb |2,2> clouds occurs along with a mean-field stabilization allowing for larger atom numbers of condensed {sup 7}Li atoms before collapse sets in. Observation of this mean-field stabilization would directly fix the sign of a{sub 7,87}. We discuss our results in the light of this proposal.