Objective Since the first observation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in a dilute atomic gas in 1995, the field of quantum degenerate gases has attracted a great deal of interest from the physics community.Research on ultra-cold Fermi gases has been developing at a very rapid pace since its inception in 1997, and is expected to lead to the next major breakthrough in atomic physics: the experimental realization of superfluidity in a quantum degenerate Fermi gas.Since the quantum statistics for fermions are the same as for electrons in solids, these experiments open up new opportunities for insights into condensed matter systems and the theories that describe them. The aim of the proposed research is to achieve superfluidity in a lithium-6 Fermi gas and study its properties in detail.The host institution, as well as three other groups worldwide, have just produced molecular condensates consisting of pairs of fermionic atoms by using a Feshbach resonance, which enables tunable interatomic interactions.In addition to enabling highly efficient production of cold molecules, this method will lead to the study of a new crossover regime between the superfluid phase of a molecular condensate and Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluidity for fermions with attractive interactions. The properties of the molecular condensate will be investigated and collective excitation modes will be employed to study the system in this crossover regime.Next, we will develop methods to investigate the superfluid character of the fermions and to measure the gap in the excitation spectrum. Another goal of our proposal is to load a Fermi gas into an optical lattice, in which investigations of the Fermi-Hubbard model will be performed.This research holds tremendous potential to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge on many-body physics, while also providing insights into technologically relevant areas such as superconductivity. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrynoble gasesnatural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsfermionsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesatomic physicsnatural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicsquantum gasesnatural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssuperconductivity Keywords Bose-Einstein condensation Fermi gases phase transitions superfluidity Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Topic(s) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Call for proposal FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinator CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE EU contribution No data Address 3 rue Michel Ange PARIS France See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
