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arXiv:0903.1804 · Physical Review Letters

Inelastic Collisions of a Fermi Gas in the BEC-BCS Crossover

X. Du, Y. Zhang, John E. Thomas

Published Jun 24, 2009• 33 citations
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Abstract

We measure inelastic three-body and two-body collisional decay rates for a two-component Fermi gas of 6Li, which are highly suppressed by the Pauli exclusion principle. Our measurements are made in the BEC-BCS crossover regime, near the two-body collisional (Feshbach) resonance. At high temperature (energy) the data show a dominant three-body decay process, which is studied as a function of bias magnetic field. At low energy, the data show a coexistence of two-body and three-body decay processes near and below the Feshbach resonance. Below resonance, the observed two-body inelastic decay can arise from molecule-atom and molecule-molecule collisions. We suggest that at and above resonance, an effective two-body decay rate arises from collisions between atoms and correlated (Cooper) pairs that can exist at sufficiently low temperature.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.102.250402

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We measure inelastic three-body and two-body collisional decay rates for a two-component Fermi gas of 6Li, which are highly suppressed by the Pauli exclusion principle. Our measurements are made in the BEC-BCS crossover regime, near the two-body collisional (Feshbach) resonance. At high temperature (energy) the data show a dominant three-body decay process, which is studied as a function of bias magnetic field. At low energy, the data show a coexistence of two-body and three-body decay processes near and below the Feshbach resonance. Below resonance, the observed two-body inelastic decay can arise from molecule-atom and molecule-molecule collisions. We suggest that at and above resonance, an effective two-body decay rate arises from collisions between atoms and correlated (Cooper) pairs that can exist at sufficiently low temperature.
Abstract Evaporative cooling stands as the prevailing method for achieving ultracold temperatures in atomic systems. Current schemes of evaporation selectively remove the hotter atoms near the edge of the trap, as the hotter and colder atoms are distributed in different spatial regions of the trapping potential. However, a long-standing goal is to directly remove the higher momentum atoms, irrespective of their spatial distribution. For this purpose, we demonstrate collisional cooling for a 6Li Fermi gas through inelastic three-body recombination near a narrow Feshbach resonance. Such three-body recombination can induce either heating or cooling effects, and the decay of the quasi-bound Feshbach molecule stirs the hotter atoms away from the trapping potential. When the threshold energy of the Feshbach molecule exceeds the atom’s average kinetic energy of 3/2kBT, the cooling effect becomes more pronounced. Finally, we observe strong temperature dependence in this collisional cooling process, with greater efficiency achieved at lower temperatures.
We investigate the non-universal behavior of the BCS-BEC crossover model at the normal to superfluid transition. By using a finite temperature quantum field theoretical approach due to Nozieres and Schmitt-Rink and by making the effective range expansion of the effective two-body interaction we numerically calculate the crossover transition temperature as a function of the scattering length, aF,a_{F},aF​, and the effective range parameter, re.r_{\mathrm{e}}.re​. In an ultracold two-component atomic Fermi gas BCS-BEC crossover physics is expected to appear near magnetic-field-induced Feshbach resonances. By matching two-body scattering properties near a Feshbach resonance to a simple renormalized model potential, a broad resonance is characterized by a small effective range and the gas displays a universal BCS-BEC crossover behavior. On the other hand, for a narrow resonance thermodynamic quantities depend the effective range which may be large and negative at resonance. For increasing values of −re-r_{\mathrm{e}}−re​ we find the transition temperature to be suppressed in the crossover region. We furthermore argue for existence of a lower bound of TcT_{c}Tc​ at fixed coupling for increasing −re-r_{\mathrm{e}}−re​ in the crossover region.
A trapped Fermi gas near a collisional resonance provides a unique laboratory for testing many-body theories in a variety of fields. The ultracold Fermi gas produced in our lab is comprised of the lowest two spin states of 6^66Li. At 834 G there is a collisional or Feshbach resonance between the two spin states. The scattering length between trapped atoms of opposing spins far exceeds the interparticle spacing of the gas. On resonance, a strongly interacting, unitary, Fermi gas is created which exhibits universal behavior. The unitary Fermi gas is a prototype for other exotic systems in nature from nuclear matter to neutron stars and high temperature superconductors. \n For magnetic fields less than 834 G the scattering length is positive, and pairs Fermi atoms can form molecular dimers. These dimers, comprised of two fermions, are bosons. At ultracold temperatures the molecular bosons populate the lowest energy level and form a Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC). For magnetic fields greater than 834G the scattering length between fermions in opposing spin states is negative, like Cooper pairs formed between electrons in a superconductor. The Bardeen, Cooper, and Shriefer (BCS) theory was developed to describe the pairing effect in the context of superconductors. In our experiment we produce an ultracold unitary gas. By tuning the magnetic field to either side of the Feshbach resonance we can transform the gas into a weakly interacting BEC or BCS superfluid. Therefore, the region near a Feshbach resonance is called the BEC-BCS crossover. \n This dissertation presents a precision measurement of the hydrodynamic sound velocity in an ultracold Fermi gas near a Feshbach resonance. The sound velocity is measured at various magnetic fields both above and below resonance. Moreover, we are able compare our measurements to theoretical descriptions of hydrodynamic sound propagation. Further, our measurement of sound velocity exactly reproduces the non-perturbative case, eliminating the need to consider nonlinear effects. At resonance the sound velocity exhibits universal scaling with the Fermi velocity to within 1.8\\% over a factor of 30 in density. In a near zero temperature unitary gas the average sound velocity at the axial center was measured, c(0)/vFc(0)/v_Fc(0)/vF​ = 0.364(0.005), as well as the universal constant, beta\\betabeta = -0.565(0.015). The measurement of sound velocity in an ultracold gas throughout the BEC-BCS crossover provides further evidence of the continuous connection between the physics of the BEC, unitary, and BCS systems.
The pairing of fermionic particles is an essential ingredient of superconductivity and of the superfluidity of 3He. While such phenomena are accurately described by BCS theory in the limit of weak pairing strength, a complete understanding remains elusive when pairing strength is increased, such as in high temperature superconductors. We create ultracold gases of trapped fermionic 6Li atoms, through which we directly observe fermionic pairing. In our system, there are no impurities whatsoever, and parameters such as the number and temperature of the trapped atoms are precisely and independently controlled. In addition, a Feshbach resonance enables the continuous tuning of interaction strength and sign between the paired atoms. This control allows us to observe the smooth crossover of a molecular Bose Einstein condensate (MBEC) to a superfluid of weakly interacting Cooper pairs. With these tools, we have performed several fundamental measurements of pairing in fermionic systems.\nWe use optical molecular spectroscopy to precisely measure the closed-channel contribution to the many body state of paired 6Li atoms within a broad Feshbach resonance. The magnitude of this contribution is small, and supports the concept of universality for the description of broad Feshbach resonances. Moreover, the dynamics of the excitation provide clear evidence for pairing across the BEC-BCS crossover, and for the first time, into the weakly interacting BCS regime.\nWe also prepare a polarized Fermi gas with unequal numbers of two spin states of 6Li atoms. The real-space densities of the polarized, strongly-interacting, two-component Fermi gas reveal two low temperature regimes. At the lowest temperatures, the gas separates into a phase with a uniformly paired superfluid core surrounded by a shell of normal, unpaired atoms. This phase separation is accompanied by a spatial deformation of the core. At higher temperatures, the uniformly paired core persists, though it does not deform. This temperature dependence is consistent with a tri-critical point in the phase diagram. These measurements of pairing in a polarized Fermi gas are relevant to predictions of exotic phases of quark matter and magnetized superconductors.
We have observed condensation of fermionic atom pairs in the BCS-BEC crossover regime. A trapped gas of fermionic 40K atoms is evaporatively cooled to quantum degeneracy and then a magnetic-field Feshbach resonance is used to control the atom-atom interactions. The location of this resonance is precisely determined from low-density measurements of molecule dissociation. In order to search for condensation on either side of the resonance, we introduce a technique that pairwise projects fermionic atoms onto molecules; this enables us to measure the momentum distribution of fermionic atom pairs. The transition to condensation of fermionic atom pairs is mapped out as a function of the initial atom gas temperature T compared to the Fermi temperature T(F) for magnetic-field detunings on both the BCS and BEC sides of the resonance.
We present an overview of our recent measurements on the crossover from a Bose‐Einstein condensate of molecules to a Bardeen‐Cooper‐Schrieffer superfluid. The experiments are performed on a two‐component spin‐mixture of 6Li atoms, where a Feshbach resonance serves as the experimental key to tune the s‐wave scattering length and thus to explore the various interaction regimes. In the BEC‐BCS crossover, we have characterized the interaction energy by measuring the size of the trapped gas, we have studied collective excitation modes, and we have observed the pairing gap. Our observations provide strong evidence for superfluidity in the strongly interacting Fermi gas.