Crossover from a Molecular Bose-Einstein Condensate to a Degenerate Fermi Gas
Abstract
We demonstrate a reversible conversion of a 6Li2 molecular Bose-Einstein condensate to a degenerate Fermi gas of atoms by adiabatically crossing a Feshbach resonance. By optical in situ imaging, we observe a smooth change of the cloud size in the crossover regime. On the Feshbach resonance, the ensemble is strongly interacting and the measured cloud size is 75(7)% of the one of a noninteracting zero-temperature Fermi gas. The high condensate fraction of more than 90% and the adiabatic crossover suggest our Fermi gas to be cold enough to form a superfluid.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- March 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.120401
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/0401109
- Bibcode:
- 2004PhRvL..92l0401B
- Keywords:
-
- 03.75.Mn;
- 05.30.Fk;
- 32.80.Pj;
- 34.50.-s;
- Multicomponent condensates;
- spinor condensates;
- Fermion systems and electron gas;
- Optical cooling of atoms;
- trapping;
- Scattering of atoms and molecules;
- Condensed Matter - Other
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PRL