Spin-polarized fermions with $p$-wave interactions

Abstract

We study quantum degenerate Fermi gases of ${}^6$Li atoms at high densities ($10^{15}$ cm${}^{-3}$) and observe elastic and inelastic $p$-wave collisions far away from any Feshbach resonance. $P$-wave evaporation reaches temperatures of $T/T_F=0.42$ partially limited by the slow transfer of energy from high to low velocities through $p$-wave collisions. Via cross-dimensional thermalization, the $p$-wave background scattering volume is determined to be $|V_p|=(39_{-1.6}^{+1.3}{a}_0{)}^3$. $P$-wave dipolar relaxation creates a metastable mixture of the lowest and highest hyperfine states.

10 pages, 8 figures