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Anisotropic Spin Diffusion in Trapped Boltzmann Gases

William J. Mullin, Robert J. Ragan

Published Jan 1, 2005• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

Recent experiments in a mixture of two hyperfine states of trapped Bose gases show behavior analogous to a spin-1/2 system, including transverse spin waves and other familiar Leggett-Rice-type effects. We have derived the kinetic equations applicable to these systems, including the spin dependence of interparticle interactions in the collision integral, and have solved for spin-wave frequencies and longitudinal and transverse diffusion constants in the Boltzmann limit. We find that, while the transverse and longitudinal collision times for trapped Fermi gases are identical, the Bose gas shows diffusion anisotropy. Moreover, the lack of spin isotropy in the interactions leads to the non-conservation of transverse spin, which in turn has novel effects on the hydrodynamic modes. PACS numbers: 03.75.Mn,05.30Jp,05.60.Gg,51.10.+y,67.20.+k. In recent JILA experiments,1,2 a mixture of two hyperfine states was found to segregate by species. The theoretical explanation3−8 for this behav-ior is based on the two states playing the role of a pseudo-spin-1/2 system,

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Recent experiments in a mixture of two hyperfine states of trapped Bose gases show behavior analogous to a spin-1/2 system, including transverse spin waves and other familiar Leggett-Rice-type effects. We have derived the kinetic equations applicable to these systems, including the spin dependence of interparticle interactions in the collision integral, and have solved for spin-wave frequencies and longitudinal and transverse diffusion constants in the Boltzmann limit. We find that, while the transverse and longitudinal collision times for trapped Fermi gases are identical, the Bose gas shows diffusion anisotropy. Moreover, the lack of spin isotropy in the interactions leads to the non-conservation of transverse spin, which in turn has novel effects on the hydrodynamic modes. PACS numbers: 03.75.Mn,05.30Jp,05.60.Gg,51.10.+y,67.20.+k. In recent JILA experiments,1,2 a mixture of two hyperfine states was found to segregate by species. The theoretical explanation3−8 for this behav-ior is based on the two states playing the role of a pseudo-spin-1/2 system,
Recent experiments in a mixture of two hyperfine states of trapped Bose gases show behavior analogous to a spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ system, including transverse spin waves and other familiar Leggett-Rice-type effects. We have derived the kinetic equations applicable to these systems, including the spin dependence of interparticle interactions in the collision integral, and have solved for spin-wave frequencies and longitudinal and transverse diffusion constants in the Boltzmann limit. We find that, while the transverse and longitudinal collision times for trapped Fermi gases are identical, the Bose gas shows unusual diffusion anisotropy in both dipole and quadrupole modes. Moreover, the lack of spin isotropy in the interactions leads to the nonconservation of transverse spin, which in turn has significant effects on the hydrodynamic modes.
We solve a recently derived kinetic equation for a dilute quantum system at arbitrary degeneracy and polarization, M. From this equation we develop a spin hydrodynamic equation that allows the generalization of the treatment of spin waves and the Leggett-Rice effect to polarized degenerate Fermi gases. We find a transverse spin-diffusion collision time ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ that is often shorter than the corresponding longitudinal collision time ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\tau}}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\parallel}}}$ that is often shorter than the corresponding longitudinal collision time ${\mathit{t}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$. As T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0, ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\tau}}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\parallel}}}$ approaches T-independent value, in constrast to ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\tau}}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$\ensuremath{\sim}1/T2{\mathit{T}}^{2}T2. Spin waves would thus continue to be damped even to T=0 K.
We report the solution of a recently derived kinetic equation for a dilute quantum system at arbitrary degeneracy and polarization. From this equation we have developed a spin hydrodynamic equation that allows the generalization of the treatment of spin waves and the Leggett‐Rice effect to polarized degenerate Fermi gases. We find a transverse spin‐diffusion collision time τ⊥ that is often shorter than the corresponding longitudinal collision time, τ∥. As T→0, τ⊥ approaches a T‐independent value, in contrast to τ∥∼1/T2. Spin waves should thus continue to be damped even to T=0 K.
Transverse spin diffusion in a polarized, interacting Fermi gas leads to the Leggett-Rice effect, where the spin current precesses around the local magnetization. With a spin-echo sequence both the transverse diffusivity and the spin-rotation parameter $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ are obtained; the sign of $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ reveals the repulsive or attractive character of the effective interaction. In a trapped Fermi gas the spin diffusion equations become nonlinear, and their numerical solution exhibits an inhomogeneous spin state even at the spin-echo time. While the microscopic diffusivity and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ increase at weak coupling, their apparent values inferred from the trap-averaged magnetization saturate in agreement with a recent experiment for a dilute ultracold Fermi gas.
An ultracold Bose gas of two-level atoms can be thought of as a spin-1/2 Bose gas. It supports spin-wave collective modes due to the exchange mean field. Such collective spin oscillations have been observed in recent experiments at JILA with 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms confined in a harmonic trap. We present a theory of the spin-wave collective modes based on the moment method for trapped gases. In the collisionless and hydrodynamic limits, we derive analytic expressions for the frequencies and damping rates of modes with dipole and quadrupole symmetry. We find that the frequency for a given mode is given by a temperature-independent function of the peak density n, and falls off as 1/n.1/n.1/n. We also find that, to a very good approximation, excitations in the radial and axial directions are decoupled. We compare our model to the numerical integration of a one-dimensional version of the kinetic equation and find very good qualitative agreement. The damping rates, however, show the largest deviation for intermediate densities, where one expects Landau damping---which is unaccounted for in our moment approach---to play a significant role.
We consider a trapped ultra-cold gas of (non-condensed) bosons with two internal states (described by a pseudo spin) and study the stability of a longitudinal pseudo spin polarization gradient. For this purpose, we numerically solve a kinetic equation corresponding to a situation close to an experiment at JILA. It shows the presence of Castaing's instability of transverse spin polarization fluctuations at long wavelengths. This phenomenon could be used to create spontaneous transverse spin waves.