Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Published Online November 7, 2002
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1079107

Reports

Submitted on October 4, 2002
Accepted on October 31, 2002

Observation of a Strongly Interacting Degenerate Fermi Gas of Atoms

K. M. O'Hara 1, S. L. Hemmer 1, M. E. Gehm 1, S. R. Granade 1, J. E. Thomas 1*

1 Physics Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jet{at}phy.duke.edu .

We report on the observation of a highly degenerate, strongly interacting Fermi gas of atoms. Fermionic 6Li atoms in an optical trap are evaporatively cooled to degeneracy using a magnetic field to induce strong, resonant interactions. Upon abruptly releasing the cloud from the trap, the gas is observed to expand rapidly in the transverse direction while remaining nearly stationary in the axial. We interpret the expansion dynamics in terms of collisionless superfluid and collisional hydrodynamics. For the data taken at the longest evaporation times, we find that collisional hydrodynamics does not provide a satisfactory explanation, while superfluidity is plausible.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A photoactive carotenoid protein acting as light intensity sensor.
A. Wilson, C. Punginelli, A. Gall, C. Bonetti, M. Alexandre, J.-M. Routaboul, C. A. Kerfeld, R. van Grondelle, B. Robert, J. T. M. Kennis, et al. (2008)
PNAS 105, 12075-12080
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Pairing and Phase Separation in a Polarized Fermi Gas.
G. B. Partridge, W. Li, R. I. Kamar, Y.-a. Liao, and R. G. Hulet (2006)
Science 311, 503-505
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Heat Capacity of a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas.
J. Kinast, A. Turlapov, J. E. Thomas, Q. Chen, J. Stajic, and K. Levin (2005)
Science 307, 1296-1299
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Observation of the Pairing Gap in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas.
C. Chin, M. Bartenstein, A. Altmeyer, S. Riedl, S. Jochim, J. H. Denschlag, and R. Grimm (2004)
Science 305, 1128-1130
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Molecules.
S. Jochim, M. Bartenstein, A. Altmeyer, G. Hendl, S. Riedl, C. Chin, J. Hecker Denschlag, and R. Grimm (2003)
Science 302, 2101-2103
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy of Ultracold Fermions.
S. Gupta, Z. Hadzibabic, M. W. Zwierlein, C. A. Stan, K. Dieckmann, C. H. Schunck, E. G. M. van Kempen, B. J. Verhaar, and W. Ketterle (2003)
Science 300, 1723-1726
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)