Browsing by Author "Houbiers, M."

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    Elastic and inelastic collisions of 6Li atoms in magnetic and optical traps
    (American Physical Society, 1998) Houbiers, M.; Stoof, H.T.C.; McAlexander, W.I.; Hulet, R.G.; Rice Quantum Institute
    We use a full coupled-channels method to calculate collisional properties of magnetically or optically trapped ultracold 6Li. The magnetic-field dependence of the s-wave scattering lengths of several mixtures of hyperfine states are determined, as are the decay rates due to exchange collisions. In one case, we find Feshbach resonances at B=0.08T and B=1.98T. We show that the exact coupled-channels calculation is well approximated over the entire range of magnetic fields by a simple analytical calculation.
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    Superfluid state of atomic 6Li in a magnetic trap
    (American Physical Society, 1997) Houbiers, M.; Ferwerda, R.; Stoof, H.T.C.; McAlexander, W.I.; Sackett, C.A.; Hulet, R.G.; Rice Quantum Institute
    We report on a study of the superfluid state of spin-polarized atomic 6Li confined in a magnetic trap. Density profiles of this degenerate Fermi gas and the spatial distribution of the BCS order parameter are calculated in the local-density approximation. The critical temperature is determined as a function of the number of particles in the trap. Furthermore, we consider the mechanical stability of an interacting two-component Fermi gas, in the case of both attractive and repulsive interatomic interactions. For spin-polarized 6Li we also calculate the decay rate of the gas and show that within the mechanically stable regime of phase space, the lifetime is long enough to perform experiments on the gas below and above the critical temperature if a bias magnetic field of about 5 T is applied. Moreover, we propose that a measurement of the decay rate of the system might signal the presence of the superfluid state.
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    Superfluidity of Spin-Polarized 6Li
    (American Physical Society, 1996) Stoof, H.T.C.; Houbiers, M.; Sackett, C. A.; Hulet, R.G.; Rice Quantum Institute
    We study the prospects for observing superfluidity in a spin-polarized atomic gas of 6Li atoms, using state-of-the-art interatomic potentials. We determine the spinodal line and show that a BCS transition to the superfluid state can indeed occur in the (meta)stable region of the phase diagram if the densities are sufficiently low. We also discuss the stability of the gas due to exchange and dipolar relaxation and conclude that the prospects for observing superfluidity in a magnetically trapped atomic 6Li gas are particularly promising for magnetic bias fields larger than 10 T.