High-Temperature Superfluidity

Vortices in gas clouds Shown at the right are lattices of vortices (mini-tornadoes) in an ultracold gas of sodium atoms (green ball), in a gas of lithium molecules, made out of a "red" and a "blue" lithium atom, and in a strongly interacting Fermi gas, where the lithium atom pairs are only held together by the stabilizing presence of all the other particles in the gas. Those vortices are the direct proof of superfluidity in these systems. The background shows hurricane Isabel in the summer of 2003, NASA image ISS007E14887.

Vortices and Superfluidity in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas Nature-Link | cond-mat archive

 

 

Fermionic Superfluidity with Imbalanced Spin Populations

Whether it occurs in superconductors, helium-3 or inside a neutron star, fermionic superfluidity requires pairing of fermions, particles with half-integer spin. For an equal mixture of two states of fermions ("spin up" and "spin down"), pairing can be complete and the entire system will become superfluid. When the two populations of fermions are unequal, not every particle can find a partner. Will the system nevertheless stay superfluid?

Fermionic Superfluidity with Imbalanced Spin Populations Science-Link | cond-mat archive		A condensate emerges in an imbalanced Fermi mixture Image 1 | Image 2
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Molecules		Condensation of Fermion Pairs Close to a Feshbach Resonance ISI Fast breaking comment
Formation Time of a Fermion Pair Condensate