Spin-polarized fermions with <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:math>-wave interactions
Furkan Çağrı Top, Yair Margalit, Wolfgang Ketterle
Abstract
We have created quantum degenerate Fermi gases of $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ atoms at unprecedented high densities exceeding $1/{\ensuremath{\lambda}\phantom{\rule{-0.5em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{-}}^{3}$ (where $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ is the wavelength of resonant light). In this regime, new optical properties are predicted. Spin-polarized Fermi gases are usually regarded as noninteracting due to the weakness of $p$-wave interactions. Here we study the properties of ``$p$-wave matter,'' where elastic and inelastic $p$-wave collisions determine the dynamics of the system. We characterize thermalization, evaporative cooling, and inelastic two-body and three-body collisions. $P$-wave dipolar relaxation creates a metastable mixture of the lowest and highest hyperfine states.