@phdthesis{3621,
  author = {T. Drake},
  title = {Measuring local properties of a Fermi gas in the BCS-BEC crossover},
  abstract = {<p>This thesis presents experiments probing the physics of strongly interacting fermionic atoms\&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.6em;">in the BCS-BEC crossover. Ultracold atom experiments bring the ability to arbitrarily tune interatomic\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">interactions, which allows for unprecedented access to the regime of strongly interacting\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">physics. The majority of cold atom experiments, however, are carried out in an atom trap that imprints\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">an inhomogeneous density on the cloud of atoms. Many phenomena, especially the signatures\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">of phase transitions, are significantly modified by this non-uniform density. In this thesis, I present\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">a novel imaging technique that allows us to probe a region of nearly homogeneous density within a\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">larger, inhomogenenous cloud. Using this technique, I present new results for strongly interacting\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">fermionic atoms, including the first measurements of the contact and the occupied spectral function\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">of a homogeneous Fermi gas, and the first direct observation of the "textbook" momentum\&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">distribution of an ideal Fermi gas.</span></p>},
  year = {2015},
  volume = {Ph.D.},
  pages = {138},
  month = {10-2015},
  publisher = {University of Colorado Boulder},
  address = {Boulder, CO},
}