C. Kohstall

Precision measurements of collective oscillations in the BEC-BCS crossover.

We report on precision measurements of the frequency of the radial compression mode in a strongly interacting, optically trapped Fermi gas of (6)Li atoms. Our results allow for a test of theoretical predictions for the equation of state in the BEC-BCS crossover. We confirm recent quantum Monte Carlo results and rule out simple mean-field BCS theory. Our results show the long-sought beyond-mean-field effects in the strongly interacting Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) regime.

Metastability and coherence of repulsive polarons in a strongly interacting Fermi mixture

Ultracold Fermi gases with tunable interactions provide a test bed for exploring the many-body physics of strongly interacting quantum systems. Over the past decade, experiments have investigated many intriguing phenomena, and precise measurements of ground-state properties have provided benchmarks for the development of theoretical descriptions. Metastable states in Fermi gases with strong repulsive interactions represent an exciting area of development. The realization of such systems is challenging, because a strong repulsive interaction in an atomic quantum gas implies the existence of a weakly bound molecular state, which makes the system intrinsically unstable against decay. Here we use radio-frequency spectroscopy to measure the complete excitation spectrum of fermionic 40K impurities resonantly interacting with a Fermi sea of 6Li atoms. In particular, we show that a well-defined quasiparticle exists for strongly repulsive interactions. We measure the energy and the lifetime of this ‘repulsive polaron’, and probe its coherence properties by measuring the quasiparticle residue. The results are well described by a theoretical approach that takes into account the finite effective range of the interaction in our system. We find that when the effective range is of the order of the interparticle spacing, there is a substantial increase in the lifetime of the quasiparticles. The existence of such a long-lived, metastable many-body state offers intriguing prospects for the creation of exotic quantum phases in ultracold, repulsively interacting Fermi gases.

Finite-Temperature Collective Dynamics of a Fermi Gas in the BEC-BCS Crossover

We report on experimental studies on the collective behavior of a strongly interacting Fermi gas with tunable interactions and variable temperature. A scissors mode excitation in an elliptical trap is used to characterize the dynamics of the quantum gas in terms of hydrodynamic or near-collisionless behavior. We obtain a crossover phase diagram for collisional properties, showing a large region where a nonsuperfluid strongly interacting gas shows hydrodynamic behavior. In a narrow interaction regime on the BCS side of the crossover, we find a novel temperature-dependent damping peak, suggesting a relation to the superfluid phase transition.

Hydrodynamic Expansion of a Strongly Interacting Fermi-Fermi Mixture

We report on the expansion of an ultracold Fermi-Fermi mixture of (6)Li and (40)K under conditions of strong interactions controlled via an interspecies Feshbach resonance. We study the expansion of the mixture after release from the trap and, in a narrow magnetic-field range, we observe two phenomena related to hydrodynamic behavior. The common inversion of the aspect ratio is found to be accompanied by a collective effect where both species stick together and expand jointly despite of their widely different masses. Our work constitutes a major experimental step for a controlled investigation of the many-body physics of this novel strongly interacting quantum system.

Collective oscillations of a Fermi gas in the unitarity limit: Temperature effects and the role of pair correlations

We present detailed measurements of the frequency and damping of three different collective modes in an ultracold trapped Fermi gas of

Superfluid quenching of the moment of inertia in a strongly interacting Fermi gas

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Feshbach resonances in the 6Li-40K Fermi-Fermi mixture: elastic versus inelastic interactions

Li atoms with resonantly tuned interactions. The measurements are carried out over a wide range of temperatures. We focus on the unitarity limit, where the scattering length is much greater than all other relevant length scales. The results are compared to theoretical calculations that take into account Pauli blocking and pair correlations in the normal state above the critical temperature for superfluidity. We show that these two effects nearly compensate each other and the behavior of the gas is close to the one of a classical gas.

Dynamics of a strongly interacting Fermi gas : The radial quadrupole mode

We report on the observation of a quenched moment of inertia resulting from superfluidity in a strongly interacting Fermi gas. Our method is based on setting the hydrodynamic gas in slow rotation and determining its angular momentum by detecting the precession of a radial quadrupole excitation. The measurements distinguish between the superfluid and collisional origins of hydrodynamic behavior, and show the phase transition.

Observation of interference between two molecular Bose?Einstein condensates

Abstract We present a detailed theoretical and experimental study of Feshbach resonances in the 6Li-40K mixture. Particular attention is given to the inelastic scattering properties, which have not been considered before. As an important example, we thoroughly investigate both elastic and inelastic scattering properties of a resonance that occurs near 155 G. Our theoretical predictions based on a coupled channels calculation are found in excellent agreement with the experimental results. We also present theoretical results on the molecular state that underlies the 155 G resonance, in particular concerning its lifetime against spontaneous dissociation. We then present a survey of resonances in the system, fully characterizing the corresponding elastic and inelastic scattering properties. This provides the essential information to identify optimum resonances for applications relying on interaction control in this Fermi-Fermi mixture.

Pairing-gap, pseudogap, and no-gap phases in the radio-frequency spectra of a trapped unitary {sup 6}Li gas

We report on measurements of an elementary surface mode in an ultracold, strongly interacting Fermi gas of