Evolution of fermion pairing from three to two dimensions

We follow the evolution of fermion pairing in the dimensional crossover from three-dimensional to two-dimensional as a strongly interacting Fermi gas of Li6 atoms becomes confined to a stack of two-dimensional layers formed by a one-dimensional optical lattice. Decreasing the dimensionality leads to the opening of a gap in radio-frequency spectra, even on the Bardeen-Cooper- Schrieffer side of a Feshbach resonance. The measured binding energy of fermion pairs closely follows the theoretical two-body binding energy and, in the two-dimensional limit, the zero-temperature mean-field Bose-Einstein- condensation to Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer crossover theory.