Fermions on atom chips

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development and experimental techniques for creating and manipulating degenerate Fermi gases of potassium-40 on an atom chip, highlighting cooling methods, species control, and future research prospects.

Contribution

It introduces novel methods for producing and controlling potassium-40 Fermi gases on an atom chip, including sympathetic cooling and RF manipulation techniques.

Findings

Successful production of potassium-40 degenerate Fermi gas

Effective sympathetic cooling with rubidium-87 BEC

Implementation of RF and dipole trap techniques for spin manipulation

Abstract

We review our recent and ongoing work with Fermi gases on an atom chip. After reviewing some statistical and thermodynamic properties of the ideal, non-interacting Fermi gas, and a brief description of our atom chip and its capabilities, we discuss our experimental approach to producing a potassium-40 degenerate Fermi gas (DFG) using sympathetic cooling by a rubidium-87 Bose-Einstein condensate on an atom chip. In doing so, we describe the factors affecting the loading efficiency of the atom chip microtrap. This is followed by a discussion of species selectivity in radio frequency manipulation of the Bose-Fermi mixture, which we explore in the context of sympathetic evaporative cooling and radio-frequency dressed adiabatic double-well potentials. Next, we describe the incorporation of a crossed-beam dipole trap into the atom chip setup, in which we generate and manipulate strongly interacting spin mixtures of potassium-40. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion of future research directions with DFGs and atom chips.