Using a Fermi Gas to Create
Bose-Einstein Condensates
The quantum mechanical phenomenon of Bose-Einstein
condensation appears throughout physics with manifestations ranging from
superconductivity in metals to superfluidity in nuclei and neutron stars. In most cases the condensation emerges due
to correlations or pairing of fermionic particles. We explore this quantum behavior in a uniquely controllable and
clean system consisting of an ultracold gas of atoms. In particular, by tuning the interactions between the fermionic
atoms that make up our ultracold gas we can create condensates consisting of
pairs of correlated atoms. These
experiments introduce the ability to access the intriguing crossover regime
where the quantum behavior of fermions becomes intertwined with that of bosons.