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arXiv:0909.5267 · Physical Review B

Liquid crystal phases of ultracold dipolar fermions on a lattice

Chungwei Lin, Erhai Zhao, W. Vincent Liu

Published Jan 13, 2010• 39 citations
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Abstract

Motivated by the search for quantum liquid crystal phases in a gas of ultracold atoms and molecules, we study the density-wave and nematic instabilities of dipolar fermions on the two-dimensional square lattice (in the $x\text{\ensuremath{-}}y$ plane) with dipoles pointing to the $z$ direction. We determine the phase diagram using two complementary methods, the Hartree-Fock mean-field theory and the linear-response analysis of compressibility. Both give consistent results. In addition to the staggered $(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})$ density wave, over a finite range of densities and hopping parameters, the ground state of the system first becomes nematic and then smectic, when the dipolar interaction strength is increased. Both phases are characterized by the same broken fourfold $({C}_{4})$ rotational symmetry. The difference is that the nematic phase has a closed Fermi surface but the smectic does not. The transition from the nematic to the smectic phase is associated with a jump in the nematic order parameter. This jump is closely related to the Van Hove singularities. We derive the kinetic equation for collective excitations in the normal isotropic phase and find that the zero sound mode is strongly Landau damped and thus is not a well-defined excitation. Experimental implications of our results are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.81.045115

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Motivated by the search for quantum liquid crystal phases in a gas of ultracold atoms and molecules, we study the density-wave and nematic instabilities of dipolar fermions on the two-dimensional square lattice (in the x\ensuremath-yx\text{\ensuremath{-}}yx\ensuremath-y plane) with dipoles pointing to the zzz direction. We determine the phase diagram using two complementary methods, the Hartree-Fock mean-field theory and the linear-response analysis of compressibility. Both give consistent results. In addition to the staggered (\ensuremathπ,\ensuremathπ)(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})(\ensuremathπ,\ensuremathπ) density wave, over a finite range of densities and hopping parameters, the ground state of the system first becomes nematic and then smectic, when the dipolar interaction strength is increased. Both phases are characterized by the same broken fourfold (C4)({C}_{4})(C4​) rotational symmetry. The difference is that the nematic phase has a closed Fermi surface but the smectic does not. The transition from the nematic to the smectic phase is associated with a jump in the nematic order parameter. This jump is closely related to the Van Hove singularities. We derive the kinetic equation for collective excitations in the normal isotropic phase and find that the zero sound mode is strongly Landau damped and thus is not a well-defined excitation. Experimental implications of our results are discussed.
"This thesis is devoted to the investigation of the quantum liquid crystal phases in strongly correlated electronic systems. Such phases are characterized by their partially broken spatial symmetries and are observed in various strongly correlated systems as being summarized in Chapter 1. In quantum liquid crystal phases formed by fermions, behaviors beyond Landau's theory of the Fermi liquids appear naturally, signed by the absence of well-defined quasiparticle excitations. Although quantum liquid crystal phases often involve strong-coupling physics, the associated symmetry analysis can often be carried out also in a relatively weak coupling regime and this is the main approach taken in this thesis. Two different quantum liquid crystal phases, the nematic state and the smectic state, are studied in Chapters 2 and 3 respectively, by investigating various instabilities of a Landau Fermi liquid. 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The behaviors of the low energy bosonic excitations are studied both in the order phases (a and .B) and at the quantum critical point separating the ordered phases from the Fermi liquid phase. In Chapter 3, the smectic phase and the quantum phase transition between a metallic nematic state and a metallic smectic phase are investigated using the random phase approximation, by considering the formation of a unidirectional charge density wave in an electronic nematic state. The associated quantum critical point is investigated within the Hertz-Millis approach. Non-Fermi liquid behaviors are discovered both at the quantum phase transition and in the smectic ordered phase. The theory we studied here provides a simple description for the so-called ""fluctuating stripe"" phase in cuprates. Similar to its classical counterpart, the phase transition between the nematic and smectic phases are described by a ""gauge-like"" theory as required by the rotational invariance in close analogy with the McMillan-deGennes theory of the smectic-nematic phase transition in classical liquid crystals. However, unlike the classical McMillandeGennes theory, in which the coupling between the ""gauge-like"" nematic fluctuations and the ""matter-like"" smectic fields is relevant, in the sense of renormalization group, this coupling is irrelevant at the quantum phase transition. This property enables the study of low energy fluctuations and the fate of fermions near this quantum critical point. In Chapter 4, quantum liquid crystal phases with a broken time-reversal symmetry are investigated. We start by studying the general scenario of timereversal symmetry breaking phases in the absence of magnetic ordering in systems with long-lived low-energy fermionic quasiparticle excitations in two dimensions. Using a Berry phase approach, we classified possible time-reversal symmetry breaking phases by the accompanying spatial symmetry breaking patterns. Two of the simplest situations are referred to as the type I state, which breaks simultaneously the space-inversion symmetry and the time-reversal symmetry, and the type I I state, in which the chiral symmetry is broken in addition to the breaking of the time-reversal symmetry. Although the starting point is general and has little relation with the quantum liquid crystal phases, both type I and type II states defined above are realized by (generalized) Pomeranchuk instabilities. In fact , a type I I state is usually a nematic state which also breaks the time-reversal symmetry. Interestingly, the type II states also shows spontaneously generated Hall effect even in the absence of a magnetic field, which is known as the spontaneous anomalous Hall effect. In Chapter 5, we investigate the stability of a quadratic band-crossing point in two-dimensional fermionic systems that provide an explicit example, within well controlled approximations, for the nematic ordering discussed in Chapter 2 and spontaneous anomalous Hall effect discussed in Chapter 4. At the non-interacting level, we show that a quadratic band-crossing point exists and is topologically stable when the Berry flux of this crossing point is ±27r and the point symmetry group at this point has either fourfold or sixfold rotational symmetries. Strikingly, we find that this would-be topologically stable quadratic band-crossing is marginally unstable against short-range interactions: a quadratic band-crossing point in two dimensions is unstable against shortrange repulsion, no matter how weak! Four ordered phases are found in this system, the quantum anomalous Hall state, the quantum spin Hall phase, the nematic phase, and the nematic-spin-nematic phase."
We model a system of ultracold fermionic dipolar molecules on a two-dimensional square lattice. Assuming that the molecules are in their nondegenerate hyperfine ground state, and that the dipole moment is polarized perpendicular to the plane (as in the recent experiments on 40K^{40}\mathrm{K}40K-87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb molecules), we approximate these molecules as spinless fermions with long-range repulsive dipolar interactions. We use mean-field theory to obtain the restricted phase diagram as a function of the filling, the strength of interaction, and the temperature. We find a number of ordered density-wave phases in the system, as well as phase separation between these phases. A Monte Carlo analysis shows that the higher-period phases are usually suppressed in the exact solution.
We study the Fermi liquid properties of the cold atomic dipolar Fermi gases with the explicit dipolar anisotropy using perturbative approaches. Due to the explicit dipolar anisotropy, Fermi surfaces exhibit distortions of the ${d}_{{r}^{2}\ensuremath{-}3{z}^{2}}$ type in three dimensions and of the ${d}_{{x}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{y}^{2}}$ type in two dimensions. The fermion self-energy, effective mass, and Fermi velocity develop the same anisotropy at the Hartree-Fock level proportional to the interaction strength. The Landau interaction parameters in the isotropic Fermi liquids become the tridiagonal Landau interaction matrices in the dipolar Fermi liquids which renormalize thermodynamic susceptibilities. With large dipolar interaction strength, the Fermi surface collapses along directions perpendicular to the dipole orientation. The dynamic collective zero sound modes exhibit an anisotropic dispersion with the largest sound velocity propagating along the polar directions. Similarly, the longitudinal ppp-wave channel spin mode becomes a propagating mode with an anisotropic dispersion in multicomponent dipolar systems.
The liquid and crystal phases of a single-component Fermi gas with dipolar interactions are investigated using quantum Monte Carlo methods in two spatial dimensions and at zero temperature. The dipoles are oriented by an external field perpendicular to the plane of motion, resulting in a purely repulsive 1/r(3) interaction. In the liquid phase we calculate the equation of state as a function of the interaction strength and other relevant properties characterizing the Fermi-liquid behavior: effective mass, discontinuity at the Fermi surface, and pair correlation function. In the high density regime we calculate the equation of state of the Wigner crystal phase and the critical density of the liquid to solid quantum phase transition. Close to the freezing density we also search for the existence of a stripe phase, but such a phase is never found to be energetically favorable.
The rapid progress in the production and cooling of molecular gases indicates that experimental studies of quantum gases with a strong dipolar interaction is soon within reach. Dipolar gases are predicted to exhibit very rich physics including quantum liquid crystal phases such as density waves as well as superfluid phases, both of which play an important role for our understanding of strongly correlated systems. Here, we investigate the zero temperature properties of the density-wave phase of a two-dimensional (2D) system of fermionic dipoles using a conserving Hartree-Fock theory. We calculate the amplitude of the density waves as a function of the dipole moment and orientation with respect to the 2D plane. The stripes give rise to a 1D Brillouin zone structure, and the corresponding quasiparticle spectrum is shown to have gapped as well as gapless regions around the Fermi surface. As a result, the system remains compressible in the density-wave phase, and it collapses for strong attraction. We show that the density waves have clear signatures in the momentum distribution and in the momentum correlations. Both can be measured in time-of-flight experiments. Finally, we discuss how the striped phase can be realized with experimentally available systems.
We study the formation of an electronic nematic phase characterized by a broken point-group symmetry in interacting fermion systems within the weak coupling theory. As a function of interaction strength and chemical potential, the phase transition between the isotropic Fermi liquid and nematic phase is first order at zero temperature and becomes second order at a finite temperature. The transition is present for all typical, including quasi-two-dimensional, electronic dispersions on the square lattice and takes place for arbitrarily small interaction when at van Hove filling, thus suppressing the Lifshitz transition. In connection with the formation of the nematic phase, we discuss the origin of the first-order transition and competition with other broken symmetry states.