We report on progress toward realizing a predicted superfluid phase in a Fermi gas of atoms. We present measurements of both large positive and large negative scattering lengths in a quantum degenerate Fermi gas of atoms near a magnetic-field Feshbach resonance. We employ an rf spectroscopy technique to directly measure the mean-field interaction energy, which is proportional to the $s$-wave scattering length. Near the peak of the resonance we observe a saturation of the interaction energy; it is in this strongly interacting regime that superfluidity is predicted to occur. We have also observed anisotropic expansion of the gas, which has recently been suggested as a signature of superfluidity. However, we find that this can be attributed to a purely collisional effect.

• Received 25 February 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.230404