Measuring the Speed of Sound in a 1D Fermi Gas

POSTER

Abstract

We have undertaken measurements of the speed of sound in a two-spin component, 1D gas of fermionic lithium. The 1D system is an array of one-dimensional tubes created by a 2D optical lattice. To measure the speed of sound, we create a localized density perturbation at the center of the atom cloud using a sheet of light. Depending on the laser's frequency, the atoms feel either a spin-sensitive or insensitive force\footnote{A. Recati, P. O. Fedichev, W. Zwerger, and P. Zoller, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 020401 (2003).}. Once the lightsheet beam is turned off, the density perturbation propagates to the edge of the atomic cloud with a velocity that depends on the strength of interatomic interactions, which we control using a magnetically-tuned Feshbach resonance. This method may be used to extract the Luttinger parameter vs. interaction strength. We will report our progress.

*ARO MURI, NSF, ONR, and The Welch Foundation

Authors

  • Jacob Fry

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials

  • Yi Jin

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials

  • Anna Marchant

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials

  • Randall Hulet

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston TX
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
    • Rice University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials
    • Rice Univ