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Originally published in Science Express on 22 December 2005
Science 27 January 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5760, pp. 503 - 505
DOI: 10.1126/science.1122876
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Reports

Pairing and Phase Separation in a Polarized Fermi Gas

Guthrie B. Partridge, Wenhui Li, Ramsey I. Kamar, Yean-an Liao, Randall G. Hulet*

We report the observation of pairing in a gas of atomic fermions with unequal numbers of two components. Beyond a critical polarization, the gas separates into a phase that is consistent with a superfluid paired core surrounded by a shell of normal unpaired fermions. The critical polarization diminishes with decreasing attractive interaction. For near-zero polarization, we measured the parameter ß = –0.54 ± 0.05, describing the universal energy of a strongly interacting paired Fermi gas, and found good agreement with recent theory. These results are relevant to predictions of exotic new phases of quark matter and of strongly magnetized superconductors.

Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77251, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: randy{at}rice.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Measurement of Universal Thermodynamic Functions for a Unitary Fermi Gas.
M. Horikoshi, S. Nakajima, M. Ueda, and T. Mukaiyama (2010)
Science 327, 442-445
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Comment on "Pairing and Phase Separation in a Polarized Fermi Gas".
M. W. Zwierlein and W. Ketterle (2006)
Science 314, 54a
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Response to Comment on "Pairing and Phase Separation in a Polarized Fermi Gas".
G. B. Partridge, W. Li, R. I. Kamar, Y.-a. Liao, and R. G. Hulet (2006)
Science 314, 54b
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Fermionic Superfluidity with Imbalanced Spin Populations.
M. W. Zwierlein, A. Schirotzek, C. H. Schunck, and W. Ketterle (2006)
Science 311, 492-496
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