8 research outputs found
Expansion of a Fermi gas interacting with a Bose-Einstein condensate
We study the expansion of an atomic Fermi gas interacting attractively with a
Bose-Einstein condensate. We find that the interspecies interaction affects
dramatically both the expansion of the Fermi gas and the spatial distribution
of the cloud in trap. We observe indeed a slower evolution of the
radial-to-axial aspect ratio which reveals the importance of the mutual
attraction between the two samples during the first phase of the expansion. For
large atom numbers, we also observe a bimodal momentum distribution of the
Fermi gas, which reflects directly the distribution of the mixture in trap.
This effect allows us to extract information on the dynamics of the system at
the collapse.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Radio Frequency Selective Addressing of Localized Particles in a Periodic Potential
We study the localization and addressability of ultra cold atoms in a
combined parabolic and periodic potential. Such a potential supports the
existence of localized stationary states and we show that using a radio
frequency field allows to selectively address the atoms in these states. This
method is used to measure the energy and momentum distribution of the atoms in
the localized states. We also discuss possible extensions of this scheme to
address and manipulate particles in single lattice sites.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Atom interferometry with trapped Fermi gases
We realize an interferometer with an atomic Fermi gas trapped in an optical
lattice under the influence of gravity. The single-particle interference
between the eigenstates of the lattice results in macroscopic Bloch
oscillations of the sample. The absence of interactions between fermions allows
a time-resolved study of many periods of the oscillations, leading to a
sensitive determination of the acceleration of gravity. The experiment proves
the superiorness of non interacting fermions with respect to bosons for
precision interferometry, and offers a way for the measurement of forces with
microscopic spatial resolution.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Insulating Behavior of a Trapped Ideal Fermi Gas
We investigate theoretically and experimentally the center-of-mass motion of
an ideal Fermi gas in a combined periodic and harmonic potential. We find a
crossover from a conducting to an insulating regime as the Fermi energy moves
from the first Bloch band into the bandgap of the lattice. The conducting
regime is characterized by an oscillation of the cloud about the potential
minimum, while in the insulating case the center of mass remains on one side of
the potential.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Bosons and Fermions near Feshbach resonances
Near Feshbach resonances, , systems of Bose and Fermi particles
become strongly interacting/dense. In this unitary limit both bosons and
fermions have very different properties than in a dilute gas, e.g., the energy
per particle approach a value times an universal many-body
constant. Calculations based upon an approximate Jastrow wave function can
quantitatively describe recent measurements of trapped Bose and Fermi atoms
near Feshbach resonances.
The pairing gap between attractive fermions also scales as
near Feshbach resonances and is a large fraction
of the Fermi energy - promising for observing BCS superfluidity in traps.
Pairing undergoes several transitions depending on interaction strength and the
number of particles in the trap and can also be compared to pairing in nuclei.Comment: Revised version extended to include recent molecular BEC-BCS result
Quasi-2D Bose-Fermi mixtures in an optical lattice
We give an overview on our current experiments with Bose-Fermi
degenerate mixtures in a one dimensional (1D) optical lattice. Our
system consists of a Fermi gas of K atoms and a
Bose-Einstein condensate of Rb. The two species are
simultaneously trapped in a combined magnetic and optical lattice
potential. We have investigated the thermodynamical properties of
the mixture in a tight lattice and observed a change in the
density of states. This is a signature of a quasi two dimensional
confinement of the atoms in the lattice sites. We also discuss the
mechanical stability of the mixture in presence of the 1D lattice