Figure 1

An illustration of the attraction that fermionic atoms feel through the interaction with bosons.
Interaction of bosonic rubidium-87 atoms with fermionic potassium-40 atoms in an optical lattice.
Left-hand side: the bosonic atom sees the confining potential from the optical lattice standing wave laser field. The depth, that is the strength of the potential, is proportional to the laser power.
Right-hand side: attractive interaction between fermion and boson at a lattice site. Dotted line: potential due to the laser beam. Solid line: potential which the boson sees due to the Fermi-Bose attraction, combined with the potential from the light field (image and text courtesy: C Ospelkaus).

Back to article