5/5 CMT seminar

[Julie Schafer <schafer physics harvard edu>]

Just announced:

12pm, Thursday, May 5th
Harvard University
Condensed Matter Theory Seminar
Department of Physics
Lyman 425
"Vortices and Superfluidity in Strongly Interacting Fermi Gases"
Martin Zwierlein
MIT

Abstract:

Strongly interacting atomic Fermi gases have recently emerged as a new
model system for fermionic superfluidity.  The magnetic
control of interactions and the low density allow for new experimental and
theoretical approaches.  By varying the
interaction strength near Feshbach resonances, one can smoothly tune the
pairing strength, and thereby explore the so called
BEC-BCS crossover from a Bose-Einstein condensate of tightly bound
molecules to loosely bound pairs whose size is comparable to or
even larger than the interparticle distance. Previous experiments have
observed condensation of atom pairs. Although those and other
studies were consistent with predictions assuming superfluidity, the
smoking gun for superfluid behavior has still been missing.
In this talk, I will report on the observation of vortex lattices in a
strongly-interacting Fermi gas, which is a direct consequence of
superfluid flow.