Three-Dimensional Anderson Localization of Ultracold Matter

A localized and a propagating component appear when an ultracold atomic gas expands in a disordered optical potential. Anderson localization (AL) is a ubiquitous interference phenomenon in which waves fail to propagate in a disordered medium. We observe three-dimensional AL of noninteracting ultracold matter by allowing a spin-polarized atomic Fermi gas to expand into a disordered potential. A two-component density distribution emerges consisting of an expanding mobile component and a nondiffusing localized component. We extract a mobility edge that increases with the disorder strength, whereas the thermally averaged localization length is shown to decrease with disorder strength and increase with particle energy. These measurements provide a benchmark for more sophisticated theories of AL.