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Direct observation of the superfluid phase transition in ultracold Fermi gases.

Author(s) : ZWIERLEIN M. W., SCHUNCK C. H., SCHIROTZEK A., et al.

Type of article: Article

Summary

In the article the authors report the direct observation of the superfluid phase transition in a strongly interacting gas of Li fermions, through sudden changes in the shape of the clouds- in complete analogy to the case of weakly interacting Bose gases. By preparing unequal mixtures of the two spin components involved in the pairing, they greatly enhance the contrast between the superfluid core and the normal component. Furthermore, the distribution of non-interacting excess atoms serves as a direct and reliable thermometer. Even in the normal state, strong interactions significantly deform the density profile of the majority spin component. They show that it is these interactions that drive the normal-to-superfluid transition at the critical population imbalance of 70 plus or minus 5%.

Details

  • Original title: Direct observation of the superfluid phase transition in ultracold Fermi gases.
  • Record ID : 2006-2160
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Nature - vol. 442 - n. 7098
  • Publication date: 2006/07/06

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