Share

Emergence of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate from a Fermi gas.

Author(s) : GREINER M., REGAL C. A., JIN D. S.

Type of article: Article

Summary

The realization of superfluidity in a dilute gas of fermionic atoms, analogous to superconductivity in metals, represents a long-standing goal of ultracold gas research. In such a fermionic superfluid, it should be possible to adjust the interaction strength and tune the system continuously between two limits: a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-type superfluid (involving correlated atom pairs in momentum space) and a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), in which spatially local pairs of atoms are bound together. This crossover between BCS-type superfluidity and the BEC limit has long been of theoretical interest, motivated in part by the discovery of high-temperature superconductors. In atomic Fermi gas experiments superfluidity has not yet been demonstrated; however, long-lived molecules consisting of locally paired fermions have been reversibly created. In this article the authors report the direct observation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate created solely by adjusting the interaction strength in an ultra-cold Fermi gas of atoms. This state of matter represents one extreme of the predicted BCS-BEC continuum.

Details

  • Original title: Emergence of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate from a Fermi gas.
  • Record ID : 2004-1532
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Nature - vol. 426 - n. 6966
  • Publication date: 2003/12/04
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

Links


See other articles in this issue (1)
See the source

Indexing