Damping of a unitary Fermi gas.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

We measure the temperature dependence of the radial breathing mode in an optically trapped, unitary Fermi gas of 6Li, just above the center of a broad Feshbach resonance. The damping rate reveals a clear change in behavior which we interpret as arising from a superfluid transition. We suggest pair breaking as a mechanism for an increase in the damping rate which occurs at temperatures well above the transition. In contrast to the damping, the frequency varies smoothly and remains close to the unitary hydrodynamic value. At low temperature T, the damping depends on the atom number only through the reduced temperature, and extrapolates to 0 at T = 0.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Kinast, J; Turlapov, A; Thomas, JE

Published Date

  • May 2005

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 94 / 17

Start / End Page

  • 170404 -

PubMed ID

  • 15904273

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1079-7114

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0031-9007

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1103/physrevlett.94.170404

Language

  • eng