Pairing and Phase Separation in a Polarized Fermi Gas

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2006
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American Association for the Advancement of Science
Abstract

We report the observation of pairing in a gas of atomic fermions with unequal numbers of two components. Beyond a critical polarization, the gas separates into a phase that is consistent with a superfluid paired core surrounded by a shell of normal unpaired fermions. The critical polarization diminishes with decreasing attractive interaction. For near-zero polarization, we measured the parameter β = –0.54 ± 0.05, describing the universal energy of a strongly interacting paired Fermi gas, and found good agreement with recent theory. These results are relevant to predictions of exotic new phases of quark matter and of strongly magnetized superconductors.

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Partridge, Guthrie B., Li, Wenhui, Kamar, Ramsey I., et al.. "Pairing and Phase Separation in a Polarized Fermi Gas." Science, 311, no. 5760 (2006) American Association for the Advancement of Science: 503-505. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1122876.

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