Measuring Pair Correlations in Bose and Fermi Gases via Atom-Resolved Microscopy
We demonstrate atom-resolved detection of itinerant bosonic ^{23}Na and fermionic ^{6}Li quantum gases, enabling the direct in situ measurement of interparticle correlations. In contrast to prior work on lattice-trapped gases, here we realize microscopy of quantum gases in the continuum. We reveal Bose-Einstein condensation with single-atom resolution, measure the enhancement of two-particle g^{(2)} correlations of thermal bosons, and observe the suppression of g^{(2)} for fermions; the Fermi or exchange hole. For strongly interacting Fermi gases confined to two dimensions, we directly observe nonlocal fermion pairs in the BEC-BCS crossover. We obtain the pair size and the short-range contact directly from the pair correlations. In situ thermometry is enabled via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Our technique opens the door to the atom-resolved study of strongly correlated quantum gases of bosons, fermions, and their mixtures.
Authors
- Mingxuan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8386-9849)
- Sungjae Chi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8074-6763)
- Ruixiao Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2728-873X)
- R. Fletcher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3650-2446)
- Martin W. Zwierlein
Institutions
- MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.183402
- Citations
- 15
- Primary Topic
- Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 18.70
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
- Office of Naval Research
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Army Research Office