  We review our recent and ongoing work with Fermi gases on an atom chip. After
reviewing some statistical and thermodynamic properties of the ideal,
non-interacting Fermi gas, and a brief description of our atom chip and its
capabilities, we discuss our experimental approach to producing a potassium-40
degenerate Fermi gas (DFG) using sympathetic cooling by a rubidium-87
Bose-Einstein condensate on an atom chip. In doing so, we describe the factors
affecting the loading efficiency of the atom chip microtrap. This is followed
by a discussion of species selectivity in radio frequency manipulation of the
Bose-Fermi mixture, which we explore in the context of sympathetic evaporative
cooling and radio-frequency dressed adiabatic double-well potentials. Next, we
describe the incorporation of a crossed-beam dipole trap into the atom chip
setup, in which we generate and manipulate strongly interacting spin mixtures
of potassium-40. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of future
research directions with DFGs and atom chips.
