Boson-fermion demixing in a cloud of lithium atoms in a pancake trap

Abstract

We evaluate the equilibrium state of a mixture of Li-7 and Li-6 atoms with repulsive interactions, confined inside a pancake shaped trap under conditions such that the thickness of the bosonic and fermionic clouds is approaching the values of the s-wave scattering lengths. In this regime the effective couplings depend on the axial confinement and full demixing can become observable by merely squeezing the trap, without enhancing the scattering lengths through recourse to a Feshbach resonance. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.