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arXiv:1010.3222 · Physical Review A

Single impurity in ultracold Fermi superfluids

Lei Jiang, Leslie O. Baksmaty, Hui Hu, Yan Chen, Han Pu

Published Jun 22, 2011• 45 citations
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Abstract

The role of impurities as experimental probes in the detection of quantum material properties is well appreciated. Here we study the effect of a single classical magnetic impurity in trapped ultracold Fermi superfluids. Depending on its shape and strength, a magnetic impurity can induce single or multiple midgap bound states in a superfluid Fermi gas. The multiple midgap states could coincide with the development of a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase within the superfluid. As an analog of the scanning tunneling microsope, we propose a modified rf spectroscopic method to measure the local density of states which can be employed to detect these states and other quantum phases of cold atoms. A key result of our self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes calculations is that a magnetic impurity can controllably induce an FFLO state at currently accessible experimental parameters.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.061604

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The role of impurities as experimental probes in the detection of quantum material properties is well appreciated. Here we study the effect of a single classical magnetic impurity in trapped ultracold Fermi superfluids. Depending on its shape and strength, a magnetic impurity can induce single or multiple midgap bound states in a superfluid Fermi gas. The multiple midgap states could coincide with the development of a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase within the superfluid. As an analog of the scanning tunneling microsope, we propose a modified rf spectroscopic method to measure the local density of states which can be employed to detect these states and other quantum phases of cold atoms. A key result of our self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes calculations is that a magnetic impurity can controllably induce an FFLO state at currently accessible experimental parameters.
In cold atom experiments, we have tools to create spin dependent optical potential, which gives us the possibility to achieve classical magnetic impurity in cold atom systems. Here we study the physics of magnetic impurity. A localized magnetic impurity can induce a mid-gap bound state, the Yu-Shiba state, in superfluid Fermi gas. We propose a modified RF spectroscopy to measure the local density of states, as a cold-atom analog of STM, which may be used to detect Yu-Shiba state. In addition, magnetic impurity can locally induce population imbalance in the system, potentially providing a method to realize FFLO-like state in a controlled way. We demonstrate such a possibility by solving the self-consist Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations.
Ultracold Fermi gas is an exciting field benefiting from atomic physics, optical physics and condensed matter physics. It covers many aspects of quantum mechanics. Here I introduce some of my work during my graduate study. We proposed an optical spectroscopic method based on electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) as a generic probing tool that provides valuable insights into the nature of Fermi paring in ultracold Fermi gases of two hyperfine states. This technique has the capability of allowing spectroscopic response to be determined in a nearly non-destructive manner and the whole spectrum may be obtained by scanning the probe laser frequency faster than the lifetime of the sample without re-preparing the atomic sample repeatedly. Both quasiparticle picture and pseudogap picture are constructed to facilitate the physical explanation of the pairing signature in the EIT spectra. Motivated by the prospect of realizing a Fermi gas of 40 K atoms with a synthetic non-Abelian gauge field, we investigated theoretically BEC-HCS crossover physics in the presence of a Rashba spin-orbit coupling in a system of two-component Fermi gas with and without a Zeeman field that breaks the population balance. A new bound state (Rashba pair) emerges because of the spin-orbit interaction. We studied the properties of Rashba pairs using a standard pair fluctuation theory. As the two-fold spin degeneracy is lifted by spin-orbit interaction, bound pairs with mixed singlet and triplet pairings (referred to as rashbons) emerge, leading to an anisotropic superfluid. We discussed in detail the experimental signatures for observing the condensation of Rashba pairs by calculating various physical observables which characterize the properties of the system and can be measured in experiment. The role of impurities as experimental probes in the detection of quantum material properties is well appreciated. Here we studied the effect of a single classical impurity in trapped ultracold Fermi superfluids. Although a non-magnetic impurity does not change macroscopic properties of s-wave Fermi superfluids, depending on its shape and strength, a magnetic impurity can induce single or multiple mid-gap bound states. The multiple mid-gap states could coincide with the development of a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase within the superfluid. As an analog of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope, we proposed a modified radio frequency spectroscopic method to measure the focal density of states which can be employed to detect these states and other quantum phases of cold atoms. A key result of our self consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes calculations is that a magnetic impurity can controllably induce an FFLO state at currently accessible experimental parameters.
A spin-imbalanced superfluid Fermi gas harmonically trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice with a single classical magnetic impurity is investigated by Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. In both the spin-balanced and weak spin-imbalanced cases, we show that a strong magnetic impurity can change the sign of the pairing order parameter. The amplitude of the sign-changed order parameter caused by impurity is affected by the strength of the impurity potential, temperature, and particle density. Compared to the spin-balanced case, we find that an additional in-gap bound state can be induced by a strong magnetic impurity in the weak spin-imbalanced case. In the strong spin-imbalanced case where the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state is established as the ground state, the impurity induces wide spatial oscillations of pairing order parameters and can enhance the order parameters by suppressing the local spin imbalance.
A spin-imbalanced superfluid Fermi gas harmonically trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice with a single classical magnetic impurity is investigated by Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. In both the spin-balanced and weak spin-imbalanced cases, we show that a strong magnetic impurity can change the sign of the pairing order parameter. The amplitude of the sign-changed order parameter caused by impurity is affected by the strength of the impurity potential, temperature, and particle density. Compared to the spin-balanced case, we find that an additional in-gap bound state can be induced by a strong magnetic impurity in the weak spin-imbalanced case. In the strong spin-imbalanced case where the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state is established as the ground state, the impurity induces wide spatial oscillations of pairing order parameters and can enhance the order parameters by suppressing the local spin imbalance.
We study an effect of rotation on the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state of two-component Fermi superfluid gases in a toroidal trap. We investigate the stability of the FFLO states in the quasi-one-dimensional regime on the basis of the Bogoliubov--de Gennes equation. We find that two FFLO phases, i.e., the half-quantum-vortex state and the intermediate state of the Fulde-Ferrell (FF) state and the Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) state, are stabilized by the rotation. The phase diagram for the FF state, LO state, intermediate state, and half-quantum-vortex state is shown in both the TTT-PPP plane and the TTT-hhh plane. We demonstrate characteristic features of these states, such as the order parameter, flux quantization, and local polarization. Several related works are discussed, and the advantages of cold Fermi gases are indicated.
We theoretically explore a promising route to achieve the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state in a spin-imbalanced ultracold Fermi gas. In the current stage of cold atom physics, search for this exotic Fermi superfluid is facing two serious difficulties: One is the desperate destruction of the FFLO long-range order by FFLO pairing fluctuations, which precludes entering the phase through a second-order transition, even in three dimension. The other is the fierce competition with the phase separation into the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) state and the spin-polarized normal state. By including strong FFLO pairing fluctuations within the framework of the strong-coupling theory developed by Nozi\`eres and Schmitt-Rink, we show that the anisotropy of Fermi surface introduced by an optical lattice makes the FFLO state stable against the paring fluctuations. This stabilized FFLO state is also found to be able to overcome the competition with the phase separation under a certain condition. Since the realization of unconventional Fermi superfluids is one of the most exciting challenges in cold atom physics, our results would contribute to the further development of this field.