Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation of Molecules

M. W. Zwierlein, C. A. Stan, C. H. Schunck, S. M. F. Raupach, S. Gupta, Z. Hadzibabic, and W. Ketterle
Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 250401 – Published 15 December 2003

Abstract

We have observed Bose-Einstein condensation of molecules. When a spin mixture of fermionic Li6 atoms was evaporatively cooled in an optical dipole trap near a Feshbach resonance, the atomic gas was converted into Li26 molecules. Below 600 nK, a Bose-Einstein condensate of up to 900 000 molecules was identified by the sudden onset of a bimodal density distribution. This condensate realizes the limit of tightly bound fermion pairs in the crossover between BCS superfluidity and Bose-Einstein condensation.

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  • Received 27 November 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.250401

©2003 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. W. Zwierlein, C. A. Stan, C. H. Schunck, S. M. F. Raupach, S. Gupta, Z. Hadzibabic, and W. Ketterle

  • Department of Physics, MIT–Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

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Vol. 91, Iss. 25 — 19 December 2003

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