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Fermi Mixtures: Effects of Engineered Confinements

I. Bausmerth

Published Jan 1, 2009• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this thesis we first review the theory of the normal state of the unitary Fermi gas at T = 0 and the main properties of the normal-to-superfluid transition. Then we study the trapped gas under adiabatic rotation, i.e., avoiding the formation of vortices. We show that for polarized systems the rotation enhances the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit due to pair breaking at the border between the superfluid and the normal phase, while it leaves the global critical polarization Pc of the trapped system unaffected. In the case of an unpolarized unitary superfluid the rotation causes a phase separation between a superfluid core and an unpolarized normal shell, in which the densities of the spin-up and spin-down atom numbers is equal. For both the polarized and the unpolarized systems we calculate experimental observables such as the density profiles and the angular momenta. From the study of Bose-Einstein condensates it is well known that an adiabatic rotation induces a quadrupole deformation of the trapped atomic cloud when the rotation exceeds a certain angular velocity. In Fermi gases the situation is different due to the phase separation discussed above, and the quadrupole instabilities are found to set on at smaller angular velocity than in the BEC case. This phenomenon together with a more general discussion concerning not only the energetic but also the dynamic instabilities of the phase separated system is presented. We use the present knowledge of the equation of state of Fermi mixtures with unequal masses to give quantitative predictions for the phase separation between the normal and superfluid components. The analysis is based on the study of the zero temperature μ-h phase diagram of the uniform two component gas. The phase diagram at unitarity is determined thanks to the knowledge of the equation of state available from diagrammatic techniques applied to highly polarized configurations and from Monte Carlo simulations. The phase diagram is then used, in the local density approximation, to calculate the density profiles of the two Fermi components in the presence of harmonic trapping. Eventually we investigate the polarization produced by the relative displacement of the potentials trapping two spin species of a unitary Fermi gas with population imbalance. We investigate the dipole polarizability of a polarized system both in the two-fluid and the three-fluid model at zero temperature and point out the major differences between the two treatments.

DOI
10.15168/11572_368660

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•Jan 10, 2012•2 citations
In this thesis we first review the theory of the normal state of the unitary Fermi gas at T = 0 and the main properties of the normal-to-superfluid transition. Then we study the trapped gas under adiabatic rotation, i.e., avoiding the formation of vortices. We show that for polarized systems the rotation enhances the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit due to pair breaking at the border between the superfluid and the normal phase, while it leaves the global critical polarization Pc of the trapped system unaffected. In the case of an unpolarized unitary superfluid the rotation causes a phase separation between a superfluid core and an unpolarized normal shell, in which the densities of the spin-up and spin-down atom numbers is equal. For both the polarized and the unpolarized systems we calculate experimental observables such as the density profiles and the angular momenta. From the study of Bose-Einstein condensates it is well known that an adiabatic rotation induces a quadrupole deformation of the trapped atomic cloud when the rotation exceeds a certain angular velocity. In Fermi gases the situation is different due to the phase separation discussed above, and the quadrupole instabilities are found to set on at smaller angular velocity than in the BEC case. This phenomenon together with a more general discussion concerning not only the energetic but also the dynamic instabilities of the phase separated system is presented. We use the present knowledge of the equation of state of Fermi mixtures with unequal masses to give quantitative predictions for the phase separation between the normal and superfluid components. The analysis is based on the study of the zero temperature μ-h phase diagram of the uniform two component gas. The phase diagram at unitarity is determined thanks to the knowledge of the equation of state available from diagrammatic techniques applied to highly polarized configurations and from Monte Carlo simulations. The phase diagram is then used, in the local density approximation, to calculate the density profiles of the two Fermi components in the presence of harmonic trapping. Eventually we investigate the polarization produced by the relative displacement of the potentials trapping two spin species of a unitary Fermi gas with population imbalance. We investigate the dipole polarizability of a polarized system both in the two-fluid and the three-fluid model at zero temperature and point out the major differences between the two treatments.
We discuss the effect of an adiabatic rotation on the phase separation between the superfluid and normal component of a trapped polarized Fermi gas at unitarity and zero temperature, under the assumption that quantized vortices are not formed. We show that the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit ${n}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}}∕{n}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}}$ characterizing the local polarization in the normal phase at the interface is enhanced by the rotation as a consequence of the centrifugal effect. The density profiles (local and column integral) of the two spin species are calculated as a function of the angular velocity for different values of the polarization. The critical value of the angular velocity at which the superfluid exhibits a spontaneous quadrupole deformation is also calculated for the unpolarized case.
Using many-body results available from diagrammatic and ab initio Monte Carlo calculations we analyze the phase diagram $\ensuremath{\mu}=({\ensuremath{\mu}}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}}+{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}})/2$ versus $h=({\ensuremath{\mu}}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}})/2$ of a unitary Fermi gas at zero temperature with population imbalance and unequal masses. We identify different regions where the gas is superfluid, partially polarized or fully polarized, and determine the corresponding coexistence conditions. The asymmetry in the phase diagram, caused by the mass imbalance, and its effect on the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit for the critical polarization are explicitly discussed. The equation of state of the superfluid and normal phases is employed, within the local density approximation, to predict phase separated configurations in the presence of harmonic trapping potentials.
We study the zero temperature properties of a trapped polarized Fermi gas at unitarity by assuming phase separation between an unpolarized superfluid and a polarized normal phase. The effects of the interaction are accounted for using the formalism of quasiparticles to build up the equation of state of the normal phase with the Monte Carlo results for the relevant parameters. Our predictions for the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit of critical polarization and for the density profiles, including the density jump at the interface, are confirmed with excellent accuracy by the recent experimental results at MIT. The role of interaction on the radial width of the minority component, on the gap of spectral functions, and on the spin oscillations in the normal phase is also discussed. Our analysis points out the Fermi liquid nature of these strongly interacting spin-polarized configurations.
The polarization produced by the relative displacement of the potentials trapping two spin species of a dilute Fermi gas with N=N is calculated at unitarity by assuming phase separation between the superfluid and a polarized phase at zero temperature. Because of the energy cost associated with pair breaking, the dipole polarizability is strongly quenched and exhibits important deviations from the ideal gas behavior even for nonlinear displacements of the order of the size of the atomic cloud. The behavior in the presence of different trapping frequencies (monopole polarization) for the two spin species is also discussed. Our results suggest new experimental perspectives to explore the quantum phases of interacting Fermi gases.
We study mixtures of a population-imbalanced, strongly interacting Fermi gas and of a Bose-Einstein condensed gas at zero temperature. In the homogeneous case, we find that the Chandrasekhar-Clogston critical polarization for the onset of instability of Fermi superfluidity is enhanced due to the interaction with the bosons. Predictions for the critical polarization are also given in the trapped case, with a special focus on the situation of equal Fermi-Bose and Bose-Bose coupling constants, where the density of fermions becomes flat in the center of the trap. This regime can be realized experimentally using Feshbach resonances and is well suited to investigate the emergence of exotic configurations, such as the occurrence of spin domains or the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase.
Fermionic matter is ubiquitous in nature, from the electrons in metals and semiconductors or the neutrons in the inner crust of neutron stars, to gases of fermionic atoms, like 40K or 6Li that can be created and studied under laboratory conditions. It is especially interesting to study these systems at very low temperatures, where we enter the world of quantum mechanical phenomena. Due to the Fermi-Dirac statistics, a dilute system of spin-polarised fermions exhibits no interactions and can be viewed as an ideal Fermi gas. However, interactions play a crucial role for fermions of several spin species. This thesis addresses several questions concerning interacting Fermi gases, in particular the transition between the normal and the superfluid phase and dynamical properties at higher temperatures. First we will look at the unitary Fermi gas: a two-component system of fermions interacting with divergent scattering length. This system is particularly interesting as it exhibits universal behaviour. Due to the strong interactions perturbation theory is inapplicable and no exact theoretical description is available. I will describe the Determinant Diagrammatic Monte Carlo algorithm with which the unitary Fermi gas can be studied from first principles. This algorithm fails in the presence of a spin imbalance (unequal number of particles in the two components) due to a sign problem. I will show how to apply reweighting techniques to generalise the algorithm to the imbalanced case, and present results for the critical temperature and other thermodynamic observables at the critical point, namely the chemical potential, the energy per particle and the contact density. These are the first numerical results for the imbalanced unitary Fermi gas at finite temperature. I will also show how temperatures beyond the critical point can be accessed and present results for the equation of state and the temperature dependence of the contact density. At sufficiently high temperatures a semiclassical description captures all relevant physical features of the system. The dynamics of an interacting Fermi gas can then be studied via a numerical simulation of the Boltzmann equation. I will describe such a numerical setup and apply it to study the collision of two spin-polarised fermionic clouds. When the two components are separated in an elongated harmonic trap and then released, they collide and for sufficiently strong interactions can bounce off each other several times. I will discuss the different types of the qualitative behaviour, show how they can be interpreted in terms of the equilibrium properties of the system, and explain how they relate to the coupling between different excitation modes. I will also demonstrate how transport coefficients, for instance the spin drag, can be extracted from the numerical data.