Fermi statistics suppress the elastic collisions that rethermalize a Fermi gas during evaporative cooling, creating a fundamental low-temperature bottleneck for producing quantum degenerate gases. We show that, for shielded single-component ultracold dipolar molecular Fermi gases in the Wigner threshold regime, this bottleneck is governed by universal threshold laws fixed by the effective dimensionality of the gas. In this regime, Fermi suppression of rethermalization scales quadratically with temperature in 3D but only linearly in 2D. Consequently, the thermalization-to-loss ratio is more favorable in 2D than in 3D, and these results suggest that 2D geometries are better suited for reaching deep degeneracy. We also present ab initio close-coupling calculations that agree well with experimental measurements on Fermi degenerate gases of KRb molecules, supporting our conclusions.Fermi statistics suppress the elastic collisions that rethermalize a Fermi gas during evaporative cooling, creating a fundamental low-temperature bottleneck for producing quantum degenerate gases. We show that, for shielded single-component ultracold dipolar molecular Fermi gases in the Wigner threshold regime, this bottleneck is governed by universal threshold laws fixed by the effective dimensionality of the gas. In this regime, Fermi suppression of rethermalization scales quadratically with temperature in 3D but only linearly in 2D. Consequently, the thermalization-to-loss ratio is more favorable in 2D than in 3D, and these results suggest that 2D geometries are better suited for reaching deep degeneracy. We also present ab initio close-coupling calculations that agree well with experimental measurements on Fermi degenerate gases of KRb molecules, supporting our conclusions.

cond-mat.quant-gasCross-listedarXiv:2610.22639Oct 19, 20260 citations

Isothermal compression of a Fermi gas to deep quantum degeneracy

Kirill Karpov, Jonas Auch, Eduard Heidt +3 more

The standard approach for generating deeply degenerate quantum gases is evaporative or sympathetic cooling in a harmonic trap, after which the gas has reached its minimum entropy. All subsequent state transformations rely on adiabatic changes of a closed system, and coupling to the environment or non-adiabatic processes monotonically increase the entropy. Here, we demonstrate that this experimental paradigm can be bypassed by utilizing species-selective trapping with a low-dissipation optical tune-out trap in a dual-species mixture. We successfully reduce the entropy of a two-component fermionic quantum gas via isothermal compression within a bosonic bath, reaching deep quantum degeneracy of $T/T_F = 0.024^{+0.007}$ , with $T_F$ the Fermi temperature. By characterizing the cross-dimensional relaxation and thermalization, we demonstrate that cooling light fermions with heavy bosons remains efficient and fast, even deep in the degenerate regime, where the thermalization time is found to be independent of $T/T_F$ . Our results pave the way for direct cooling within optical lattices, box traps, or other complex potentials, thereby eliminating the reliance on adiabatic state transformations to reach strongly interacting many-body regimes.The standard approach for generating deeply degenerate quantum gases is evaporative or sympathetic cooling in a harmonic trap, after which the gas has reached its minimum entropy. All subsequent state transformations rely on adiabatic changes of a closed system, and coupling to the environment or non-adiabatic processes monotonically increase the entropy. Here, we demonstrate that this experimental paradigm can be bypassed by utilizing species-selective trapping with a low-dissipation optical tune-out trap in a dual-species mixture. We successfully reduce the entropy of a two-component fermionic quantum gas via isothermal compression within a bosonic bath, reaching deep quantum degeneracy of $T/T_F = 0.024^{+0.007}$, with $T_F$ the Fermi temperature. By characterizing the cross-dimensional relaxation and thermalization, we demonstrate that cooling light fermions with heavy bosons remains efficient and fast, even deep in the degenerate regime, where the thermalization time is found to be independent of $T/T_F$. Our results pave the way for direct cooling within optical lattices, box traps, or other complex potentials, thereby eliminating the reliance on adiabatic state transformations to reach strongly interacting many-body regimes.

arXiv:2607.15616Jul 17, 20260 citations

DEGENERATE FERMI GASES

Michael G. Bowler

Elsevier eBooksJan 1, 19820 citations

Cooling Dynamics of Ultracold Two-Species Fermi-Bose Mixtures

Carlo Presilla A, Roberto Onofrio

We compare strategies for evaporative and sympathetic cooling of two-species Fermi-Bose mixtures in single-color and two-color optical dipole traps. We show that in the latter case a large heat capacity of the bosonic species can be maintained during the entire cooling process. This could allow one to efficiently achieve a deep Fermi degeneracy regime having at the same time a significant thermal fraction for the Bose gas, crucial for a precise thermometry of the mixture. Two possible signatures of a superfluid phase transition for the Fermi species are discussed.We compare strategies for evaporative and sympathetic cooling of two-species Fermi-Bose mixtures in single-color and two-color optical dipole traps. We show that in the latter case a large heat capacity of the bosonic species can be maintained during the entire cooling process. This could allow one to efficiently achieve a deep Fermi degeneracy regime having at the same time a significant thermal fraction for the Bose gas, crucial for a precise thermometry of the mixture. Two possible signatures of a superfluid phase transition for the Fermi species are discussed.

arXiv:cond-mat/0301517Physical Review LettersJan 24, 200331 citations

T/T_F = 0.024^{+0.007}

, with

T_F

the Fermi temperature. By characterizing the cross-dimensional relaxation and thermalization, we demonstrate that cooling light fermions with heavy bosons remains efficient and fast, even deep in the degenerate regime, where the thermalization time is found to be independent of

T/T_F

. Our results pave the way for direct cooling within optical lattices, box traps, or other complex potentials, thereby eliminating the reliance on adiabatic state transformations to reach strongly interacting many-body regimes.