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Low-temperature physics

A quantum revolution

Nature volume 435, pages 1035–1036 (2005)Cite this article

Tiny quantum tornadoes observed in ultracold gases of fermionic atoms provide definitive evidence of superfluidity, and open up new vistas in the modelling of quantum many-body systems.

Almost exactly ten years after the first observation of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in ultracold atomic gases consisting of so-called bosons1,2, a similar revolution is now unfolding. Evidence has piled up that atoms of the class of particles known as fermions can also be cooled down to a superfluid state. On page 1047 of this issue, Zwierlein et al.3 present a final, spectacular proof for superfluidity — frictionless flow — in an ultracold gas of fermionic atoms.

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Figure 1: Cool rotations.

ANDRE SCHIROTZEK

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck, and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria

    Rudolf Grimm

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  1. Rudolf Grimm
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Grimm, R. A quantum revolution. Nature 435, 1035–1036 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4351035a

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