Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 26: Posters: BECs, ultracold gases and plasmas
A 26.15: Poster
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 16:30–18:30, Poster C3
Towards a mesoscopic ensemble of ultracold fermions — •Matthias Kohnen1, Friedhelm Serwane1, Timo Ottenstein1, Thomas Lompe1, and Selim Jochim1,2 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg — 2Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg
Ensembles consisting of a small number of ultracold fermionic atoms can serve as a model for other finite systems such as electrons in atoms or nuclei in a nucleus. So far experiments studying large fermionic systems have been very succesful in controlling the interparticle interaction by an external magnetic field using a so-called Feshbach resonnance. This allows to turn a degenerate Fermi gas reversibly into a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate. The way to a mesoscopic system would be to prepare an almost pure molecular BEC, convert it into a deeply degenerate Fermi gas and lower the depth of the trapping potential reducing the number of available quantum states which leads to a controlled spilling of atoms from the trap.
On this poster we present our progress in setting up a new apparatus for the preparation of such a mesoscopic system with defined atom number in an optical microtrap. So far, we have realized a magneto-optical trap collecting up to 109 6Li atoms in one second. The next step will be the transfer of the atoms into an optical dipole trap where condensation will be achieved by forced evaporative cooling. This molecular Bose-Einstein condensate will provide excellent starting conditions for our future experiments.