Many-body dipolar effects in Fermi gases are quite subtle as they energetically compete with the large kinetic energy at and below the Fermi surface (FS).Recently it was experimentally observed in a sample of erbium atoms that its FS is deformed from a sphere to an ellipsoid due to the presence of the anisotropic and long-range dipole-dipole interaction Aikawa et al (2014 Science 345 1484).Moreover, it was suggested that, when the dipoles are rotated by means of an external field, the FS follows their rotation, thereby keeping the major axis of the momentum-space ellipsoid parallel to the dipoles.Here we generalise a previous Hartree-Fock mean-field theory to systems confined in an elongated triaxial trap with an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles relative to the trap.With this we study for the first time the effects of the dipoles' arbitrary orientation on the ground-state properties of the system.Furthermore, taking into account the geometry of the system, we show how the ellipsoidal FS deformation can be reconstructed, assuming ballistic expansion, from the experimentally measurable real-space aspect ratio after a free expansion.We compare our theoretical results with new experimental data measured with erbium Fermi gas for various trap parameters and dipole orientations.The observed remarkable agreement demonstrates the ability of our model to capture the full angular dependence of the FS deformation.Moreover, for systems with even higher dipole moment, our theory predicts an additional unexpected effect: the FS does not simply follow rigidly the orientation of the dipoles, but softens showing a change in the aspect ratio depending on the dipoles' orientation relative to the trap geometry, as well as on the trap anisotropy itself.Our theory provides the basis for understanding and interpreting phenomena in which the investigated physics depends on the underlying structure of the FS, such as fermionic pairing and superfluidity.
Many-body dipolar effects in Fermi gases are quite subtle as they energetically compete with the large kinetic energy at and below the Fermi surface (FS).Recently it was experimentally observed in a sample of erbium atoms that its FS is deformed from a sphere to an ellipsoid due to the presence of the anisotropic and long-range dipole-dipole interaction Aikawa et al (2014 Science 345 1484).Moreover, it was suggested that, when the dipoles are rotated by means of an external field, the FS follows their rotation, thereby keeping the major axis of the momentum-space ellipsoid parallel to the dipoles.Here we generalise a previous Hartree-Fock mean-field theory to systems confined in an elongated triaxial trap with an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles relative to the trap.With this we study for the first time the effects of the dipoles' arbitrary orientation on the ground-state properties of the system.Furthermore, taking into account the geometry of the system, we show how the ellipsoidal FS deformation can be reconstructed, assuming ballistic expansion, from the experimentally measurable real-space aspect ratio after a free expansion.We compare our theoretical results with new experimental data measured with erbium Fermi gas for various trap parameters and dipole orientations.The observed remarkable agreement demonstrates the ability of our model to capture the full angular dependence of the FS deformation.Moreover, for systems with even higher dipole moment, our theory predicts an additional unexpected effect: the FS does not simply follow rigidly the orientation of the dipoles, but softens showing a change in the aspect ratio depending on the dipoles' orientation relative to the trap geometry, as well as on the trap anisotropy itself.Our theory provides the basis for understanding and interpreting phenomena in which the investigated physics depends on the underlying structure of the FS, such as fermionic pairing and superfluidity.
Many-body dipolar effects in Fermi gases are quite subtle as they energetically compete with the large kinetic energy at and below the Fermi surface (FS). Recently it was experimentally observed that its FS is deformed from a sphere to an ellipsoid due to the presence of the anisotropic and long-range dipole-dipole interaction. Moreover, it was suggested that, when the dipoles are rotated by means of an external field, the Fermi surface follows their rotation, thereby keeping the major axis of the momentum-space ellipsoid parallel to the dipoles. Here we generalise a previous Hartree-Fock mean-field theory to systems confined in an elongated triaxial trap with an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles relative to the trap. With this we study for the first time the effects of the dipoles' arbitrary orientation on the ground-state properties of the system. Furthermore, taking into account the geometry of the system, we show how the ellipsoidal FS deformation can be reconstructed, assuming ballistic expansion, from the experimentally measurable real-space aspect ratio after a free expansion. We compare our theoretical results with new experimental data measured with erbium Fermi gas for various trap parameters and dipole orientations. The observed remarkable agreement demonstrates the ability of our model to capture the full angular dependence of the FS deformation. Moreover, for systems with even higher dipole moment, our theory predicts an additional unexpected effect: the FS does not simply follow rigidly the orientation of the dipoles but softens showing a change in the aspect ratio depending on the dipoles' orientation relative to the trap geometry, as well as on the trap anisotropy itself. Our theory provides the basis for understanding and interpreting phenomena in which the investigated physics depends on the underlying structure of the FS, such as fermionic pairing and superfluidity.
A recent time-of-flight (TOF) expansion experiment with polarized fermionic erbium atoms measured a Fermi surface deformation from a sphere to an ellipsoid due to dipole-dipole interaction, thus confirming previous theoretical predictions. Here we perform a systematic study of the ground-state properties and TOF dynamics for trapped dipolar Fermi gases from the collisionless to the hydrodynamic regime at zero temperature. To this end, we solve analytically the underlying Boltzmann-Vlasov equation within the relaxation-time approximation in the vicinity of equilibrium by using a suitable rescaling of the equilibrium distribution. The resulting ordinary differential equations for the respective scaling parameters are then solved numerically for experimentally realistic parameters and relaxation times that correspond to the collisionless, collisional, and hydrodynamic regimes. The equations for the collisional regime are first solved in the approximation of a fixed relaxation time, and then this approach is extended to include a self-consistent determination of the relaxation time. The presented analytical and numerical results are relevant for a detailed quantitative understanding of ongoing experiments and the design of future experiments with ultracold fermionic dipolar atoms and molecules. In particular, the obtained results are relevant for systems with strong dipole-dipole interaction, which turn out to affect significantly the aspect ratios during the TOF expansion.
In the presence of isotropic interactions, the Fermi surface of an ultracold Fermi gas is spherical. Introducing anisotropic interactions can deform the Fermi surface, but the effect is subtle and challenging to observe experimentally. Here, we report on the observation of a Fermi surface deformation in a degenerate dipolar Fermi gas of erbium atoms. The deformation is caused by the interplay between strong magnetic dipole-dipole interaction and the Pauli exclusion principle. We demonstrate the many-body nature of the effect and its tunability with the Fermi energy. Our observation provides a basis for future studies on anisotropic many-body phenomena in normal and superfluid phases.
In this thesis we study the effects of the dipole-dipole interaction on the physics of ultracold quantum gases, both bosonic and fermionic, within the theoretical framework provided by the mean-field regime. This kind of interaction takes place in ultracold atomic gases (for instance 52Cr or 164Dy) due to their atomic magnetic dipole moment, and in ultracold molecular gases due to the magnetic or electric dipole moment. \n \nIn the case of quantum gases of bosonic atoms, or Bose-Einstein condensates, the dipole-dipole interaction can be studied within mean-field approximation using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which now contains a new non-linear term due to the dipole-dipole interaction. We investigate, on the one hand dipolar condensates confined in harmonic traps, and on the other dipolar condensates confined in toroidal traps. In the harmonic geometry, our focus is on the study of the ground state and the quantized vortex state, where the density profile is characterized as well as some properties leading to the process of vortex formation, such as the critical frequency and the energy barrier that has to be overcome to bring the vortex from the surface to the centre of the gas. We finish the study of dipolar condensates in harmonic traps by dynamically simulating the precession frequency of an off-center vortex in a non-rotating condensate. \n \nIn the toroidal geometry the dipolar effects are strongly magnified when the polarization axis of the dipoles is perpendicular to the trap symmetry axis. In this case, the anisotropic structure of the density can be understood as the response of the system to the double-well effective potential along the ring. We have studied the dynamics of this system when the initial number of atoms in the left and right wells is imbalanced, predicting Josephson and self-trapping oscillations depending on the initial condition. This has led us to name this new system as Self-induced Josephson Junction. We have studied in detail the self-trapping regime and we have seen that the particle flux inversion is closely related to the crossing of vortices across the Josephson junctions. This result opens the door to establishing a more direct connection between the phase-slip regime, widely addressed in superfluid helium, and the self-trapping regime of condensates. \n \nIn the case of quantum gases of fermionic dipolar particles, we have studied how the radial quadrupole mode allows one to distinguish between hydrodynamic and collisionless regimes. We have analytically calculated the frequency of this mode in the mean-field approximation, generalizing the results from the Thomas-Fermi approximation for trapped ideal Fermi gases. On the one hand, we observe that the frequency in the hydrodynamic regime is smaller than in non-dipolar Fermi gases, while in the collisionless regime the frequency is larger or smaller than that corresponding to the non-interacting system depending on the geometry of the harmonic trap. On the other hand, we predict that reducing the trap deformation (aspect ratio) an observable jump in the frequency of the radial quadrupole mode would take place, which would correspond to the transition between the collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes, for instance when the gas undergoes the transition to the superfluid state.
The quest for quantum degenerate Fermi gases interacting through the anisotropic and long-range dipole-dipole interaction is an exciting and fast developing branch within the cold-atom research program. Recent experimental progress in trapping, cooling, and controlling polar molecules with large electric dipole moments has, therefore, motivated much theoretical effort. In a recent letter, we have briefly discussed the application of a variational time-dependent Hartree-Fock approach to study theoretically both the static and the dynamic properties of such a system in a cylinder-symmetric harmonic trap. We focused on the hydrodynamic regime, where collisions ensure the equilibrium locally. Here we present a detailed theory extended to encompass the general case of a harmonic trap geometry without any symmetry. After deriving the equations of motion for the gas, we explore their static solutions to investigate key properties like the aspect ratios in both real and momentum space as well as the stability diagram. We find that, despite the lack of symmetry of the trap, the momentum distribution remains cylinder symmetric. The equations of motion are then used to study the low-lying hydrodynamic excitations, where, apart from the quadrupole and monopole modes, the radial quadrupole mode is also investigated. Furthermore, we study the time-of-flight dynamics as it represents an important diagnostic tool for quantum gases. We find that the real-space aspect ratios are inverted during the expansion, while that in momentum space becomes asymptotically unity. In addition, anisotropic features of the dipole-dipole interaction are discussed in detail. These results could be particularly useful for future investigations of strongly dipolar heteronuclear polar molecules deep in the quantum degenerate regime.
Under the framework of the semiclassical theory, we investigate the equilibrium-state properties of a spin polarized dipolar Fermi gas through full numerical calculation. We show that the Fermi surfaces in both real and momentum spaces are stretched along the attractive direction of dipolar interaction. We further verify that the deformed Fermi surfaces can be well approximated by ellipsoids. In addition, the deformation parameters slightly depend on the local real- and momentum-space densities. We also study the interaction strength dependence of the energy and real- and momentum-space densities. By comparing them with variational results, we find that the ellipsoidal ansatz usually generates accurate results for weak dipolar interaction, while under strong dipolar interaction limit, notable discrepancy can be observed. Finally, we map out the stability boundary of the system.