Departmental Colloquium

High temperature superfluidity at 1nK

Joseph Thywissen
University of Toronto

Time
Wed. March 14, 2007     3:30 PM     Stirling A

Abstract

Alkali gases can achieve metastable quantum degeneracy if they are cooled to one microKelvin or below. This window of opportunity was opened in 1995, when Bose condensates of dilute gases were first created. Since then, cold atoms have been used to explore quantum degeneracy of bosons and fermions, partially retracing the steps of liquid Helium and degenerate electron experiments. Trapped gases provide a complementary experimental perspective, since they are typically in a quadratic (harmonic) confining potential, and since characterization of states is done without transport measurements. We will discuss these developments in the field of ultra-cold atoms, including recent explorations of strongly interacting fermion systems, and future prospect for testing whether phonons are necessary for d-wave pairing in a lattice.

Refreshments will be available 15 min before the talk

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