Lopsided Expansion of an Ultracold Gas
Physicists have observed a bizarre, lopsided expansion of
an ultracold gas of lithium-6 atoms. While classical gases expand at
equal speed in every direction, this gas transformed from a vertical
cigar shape to a horizontal ellipsoid shape. The results provide never-before-seen
behavior in fermions, a major class of matter in the universe. These
figures show the expansion from a couple of different angles. (Figures
courtesy of John Thomas group at Duke University.)
