Fluid Dynamics in Uniform Fermi Gases

General audience abstract

This project will explore nearly perfect fluid flow in a 'designer' quantum system, comprising a unique ultracold gas of atoms, contained in a box made entirely of laser light. The atoms used in these tabletop experiments feature experimentally adjustable attraction or repulsion, from very weak to very strong, enabling measurements that impact theories in intellectual disciplines well outside of atomic physics. The contained atoms model new materials, such as super-high temperature superconductors that operate far above room temperature, which will one day enable energy-saving power lines and magnetically levitated trains. Students and post-doctoral associates will design new optical systems, new computer control and mechanical systems, and study electrodynamics and quantum mechanics, broadly training them for challenges arising in science and technology.

Technical audience abstract

The experiments will study the fluid dynamics of a Fermi gas of Li-6 atoms near a collisional (Feshbach) resonance, which enables magnetic control of atom-atom interactions. The ultracold Fermi gas is contained, perturbed, and imaged in a designer optical potential, which is generated using two digital micro-mirror arrays. By imaging the atom density profile as a function of time, the new experiments will measure the hydrodynamic linear response and transport properties as a function of temperature, interaction strength, and spin-imbalance. Imaging the trapped cloud in a 1D linearly varying potential will determine the equation of state. Designer optical potentials also will be used for in-situ imaging of shock waves as a function of interaction strength, density profile and temperature profile.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.