Momentum distribution of a Fermi gas of atoms in the BCS-BEC crossover

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the atomic momentum distribution of a Fermi gas changes across the BCS-BEC crossover, providing experimental data and comparisons to theoretical models for different interaction regimes.

Contribution

It presents experimental measurements of momentum distributions and kinetic energy across the BCS-BEC crossover, comparing results to mean-field and weakly interacting theories.

Findings

Significant changes in momentum distribution observed across the crossover.

Kinetic energy varies with interaction strength and matches theoretical predictions.

Temperature dependence of the distribution is characterized.

Abstract

We observe dramatic changes in the atomic momentum distribution of a Fermi gas in the region of the BCS-BEC crossover. We study the shape of the momentum distribution and the kinetic energy as a function of interaction strength. The momentum distributions are compared to a mean-field crossover theory, and the kinetic energy is compared to theories for the two weakly interacting limits. The temperature dependence of the distribution is also presented.