ABSTRACT:
We discuss recent experiments performed on ultra-cold gases of
fermionic 6Li in a crossed-beam optical trap. This system enables
the investigation of the so-called BEC-BCS cross-over region.
Using a Feshbach resonance, the magnitude of the atomic interactions
can be tuned between the strongly interacting regime, where the ground
state is a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of molecules, to the weakly
interacting regime, where the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) theory of
superconductivity is more appropriate. We have investigated the
momentum distribution of the gas as well as its anisotropic expansion
in the presence of interactions. In addition, we have studied the
possibility of breaking pairs of atoms by modulating the trap
strength. I will also describe a currently evolving
reconstruction and upgrade of the apparatus and our outlook for
experiments in the near future.
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