What Can
Ultracold Fermi Gases Tell Us About High Tc Superconductors and Vice Versa?
Studies of superfluidity
in ultracold trapped Fermi gases are attracting physicists from a wide range of
sub-disciplines including nuclear, condensed matter and particle physics.
The excitement in the field is due, in large part, to the remarkable
tuneability of these Fermi gases. One
can tune the attractive interaction strength continuously from weak to strong
(thereby effecting a transition from a BCS to Bose Einstein condensed (BEC)
superfluid). One can introduce polarization into the gases at will, which may
lead to long-sought-after, but not yet confirmed, exotic superfluid phases. In
this talk we discuss the relevance of the cold Fermi gases to other physics
subdisciplines. We then summarize how
BCS-BEC crossover in the ultracold gases connects with a particularly important
topic in condensed matter: high temperature superconductivity. We emphasize
some striking similarities relating to the very unusual normal or “pseudogap” phase
of each of the two systems. In the process we give a summary of some of the
latest exciting experimental developments in the two fields.