S. Hoinka

Crossover From 2D to 3D in a Weakly Interacting Fermi Gas

We have studied the transition from two to three dimensions in a low temperature weakly interacting 6Li Fermi gas. Below a critical atom number N(2D) only the lowest transverse vibrational state of a highly anisotropic oblate trapping potential is occupied and the gas is two dimensional. Above N(2D) the Fermi gas enters the quasi-2D regime where shell structure associated with the filling of individual transverse oscillator states is apparent. This dimensional crossover is demonstrated through measurements of the cloud size and aspect ratio versus atom number.

Temperature dependence of the universal contact parameter in a unitary Fermi gas.

The contact I, introduced by Tan, has emerged as a key parameter characterizing universal properties of strongly interacting Fermi gases. For ultracold Fermi gases near a Feshbach resonance, the contact depends upon two quantities: the interaction parameter 1/(k(F)a), where k(F) is the Fermi wave vector and a is the s-wave scattering length, and the temperature T/T(F), where T(F) is the Fermi temperature. We present the first measurements of the temperature dependence of the contact in a unitary Fermi gas using Bragg spectroscopy. The contact is seen to follow the predicted decay with temperature and shows how pair-correlations at high momentum persist well above the superfluid transition temperature.

Thermodynamics of an Attractive 2D Fermi Gas

Thermodynamic properties of matter are conveniently expressed as functional relations between variables known as equations of state. Here we experimentally determine the compressibility, density, and pressure equations of state for an attractive 2D Fermi gas in the normal phase as a function of temperature and interaction strength. In 2D, interacting gases exhibit qualitatively different features to those found in 3D. This is evident in the normalized density equation of state, which peaks at intermediate densities corresponding to the crossover from classical to quantum behavior.

Dynamic spin response of a strongly interacting Fermi gas

We present an experimental investigation of the dynamic spin response of a strongly interacting Fermi gas using Bragg spectroscopy. By varying the detuning of the Bragg lasers, we show that it is possible to measure the response in the spin and density channels separately. At low Bragg energies, the spin response is suppressed due to pairing, whereas the density response is enhanced. These experiments yield the first independent measurements of the spin-parallel and spin-antiparallel dynamic and static structure factors, which provide insight into the different features of density and spin response functions. At high momentum the spin-antiparallel dynamic structure factor displays a universal high frequency tail, proportional to ω(-5/2), where ℏω is the probe energy.

Goldstone mode and pair-breaking excitations in atomic Fermi superfluids

Bragg spectroscopy shows the evolution of gapless Goldstone modes and single-particle-like excitations in an atomic Fermi superfluid as it crosses from a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer superfluid to the Bose–Einstein condensate regime.

Local observation of pair-condensation in a Fermi gas at unitarity

We present measurements of the local (homogeneous) density-density response function of a Fermi gas at unitarity using spatially resolved Bragg spectroscopy. By analyzing the Bragg response across one axis of the cloud, we extract the response function for a uniform gas which shows a clear signature of the Bose-Einstein condensation of pairs of fermions when the local temperature drops below the superfluid transition temperature. The method we use for local measurement generalizes a scheme for obtaining the local pressure in a harmonically trapped cloud from the line density and can be adapted to provide any homogeneous parameter satisfying the local density approximation.

Bragg spectroscopy of strongly interacting Fermi gases

This article provides an overview of recent developments and emerging topics in the study of two-component Fermi gases using Bragg spectroscopy. Bragg scattering is achieved by exposing a gas to two intersecting laser beams with a slight frequency difference and measuring the momentum transferred to the atoms. By varying the Bragg laser detuning, it is possible to measure either the density or spin response functions which characterize the basic excitations present in the gas. Specifically, one can measure properties such as the dynamic and static structure factors, Tan’s universal contact parameter and observe signatures for the onset of pair condensation locally within a gas.

Universal structure of a strongly interacting Fermi gas

This paper presents studies of the universal properties of strongly interacting Fermi gases using Bragg spectroscopy. We focus on pair-correlations, their relationship to the contact C introduced by Tan, and their dependence on both the momentum and temperature. We show that short-range pair correlations obey a universal law, first derived by Tan through measurements of the static structure factor, which displays a universal scaling with the ratio of the contact to the momentum C/q. Bragg spectroscopy of ultracold 6Li atoms is employed to measure the structure factor for a wide range of momenta and interaction strengths, providing broad confirmation of this universal law. We show that calibrating our Bragg spectra using the f-sum rule leads to a dramatic improvement in the accuracy of the structure factor measurement. We also measure the temperature dependence of the contact in a unitary gas and compare our results to calculations based on a virial expansion.

Universal Properties of a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas

We report measurements showing the universal behaviour of the static structure factor and both the temperature and interaction dependence of pair correlations in a strongly interacting Fermi gas. We utilize Bragg spectroscopy to obtain the static structure factor by recording excitation spectra of trapped clouds of ultracold 6Li atoms. Our results show clear evidence of strong short-range pair correlations above the critical temperature for superfluidity through the BEC-BCS crossover and agree well with theoretical calculations.