Making, probing and understanding ultracold Fermi gases
Abstract
This paper summarizes the experimental frontier of ultracold fermionic gases. It is based on three lectures which one of the authors gave at the Varenna Summer School describing the experimental techniques used to study ultracold fermionic gases, and some of the results obtained so far. In many ways, the area of ultracold fermionic gases has grown out of the study of Bose-Einstein condensates. After their first experimental realizations in 1995 [1,2], the field of BEC has grown explosively. Most of the explored physics was governed by mean-field interactions, conveniently described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. One novel feature of trapped inhomogeneous gases was the spatially varying density, that allowed for the direct observation of the condensate, but also led to new concepts of surface effects and collective excitations which depended on the shape of the cloud. The experimental and theoretical explorations of these and other features have been a frontier area for a whole decade!
- Publication:
-
Nuovo Cimento Rivista Serie
- Pub Date:
- May 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1393/ncr/i2008-10033-1
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0801.2500
- Bibcode:
- 2008NCimR..31..247K
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter;
- Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons
- E-Print:
- Long review article, 206 pages, 74 figures, to appear in Ultracold Fermi Gases, Proceedings of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Course CLXIV, Varenna, 20 - 30 June 2006, edited by M. Inguscio, W. Ketterle, and C. Salomon (IOS Press, Amsterdam) 2008