By employing the balance condition between the lattice potential and the interatomic interaction, we study the ground state solutions of superfluid Fermi gases in Fourier-synthesized (FS) optical lattices. The average energy of the ground state, the atoms number, and the atom density distribution of the Fermi system are analytically derived along the Bose—Einstein condensation (BEC) side to the Bardeen—Cooper—Schrieffer (BCS) side. We analyze the properties of ground state solutions at both the BEC limit and unitarity in FS optical lattices. It is found that the relative phase α between the two lattice harmonics impacts greatly on the properties of the ground state of the superfluid Fermi gas. Especially in the BCS limit, when α = π/2, the average energy presents an exponential form with the increase of the potential depth of the lattice harmonics υ 2 . Meanwhile, there exits a minimal value. Moreover, due to the Fermi pressure, the atom density distribution at unitarity is more outstretched than that in the BEC limit. The average energy at unitarity is apparently larger than that in the BEC limit. The properties of the ground state solution exhibit very different behaviors when the system transits from the BEC side to the BCS side.
We consider a dynamical model for superfluid Fermi gas, trapped in the central well of an axially symmetric Bessel optical lattice potential. The equation includes nonlinear power-law form of the chemical potential [Formula: see text], for [Formula: see text], which accounts for Fermi pressure. Reducing the equation to two-dimensional (2D) form, we obtain the basic steady state solutions of the system along the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) side to Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) side by employing the energy balance condition, which are guided by the variational approximation. It is found that the strength [Formula: see text] and the radial scale [Formula: see text] of the Bessel optical lattice have an extreme effect on the characters of basic steady state solution. Analytically, we deduce the atomic density distribution, the average atom number and the average energy of basic steady state, where the atom distribution of the system presents on periodic change with [Formula: see text], and increases faster at unitarity than in the BEC limit. Furthermore, because of the Fermi pressure, the atomic density distribution at the unitarity is more extensive than that in the BEC limit. In particular, there exist very interesting changes, the average energy intends to collapse state with [Formula: see text], however it emerges as a stable state with varying [Formula: see text] both in the BEC limit and at unitarity.
On the basis of quantum hydrodynamical equations we derive a unitarity Schrödinger equation of a finite trapped superfluid Fermi gas valid in the whole interaction regime from BCS superfluid to BEC. This equation is just the Ginzburg–Laudau-type equation for the fermionic Cooper pairs in the BCS side, the Gross–Pitaevskii-type equation for the bosonic dimers in the BEC side, and a unitarity equation for a strongly interacting Fermi superfluid in the unitarity limit. By taking a modified Gauss-like trial wave function, we solve the unitarity Schrödinger equation, calculate the energy, chemical potential, sizes and profiles of the ground-state condensate, and discuss the properties of the ground state in the entire BCS-BEC crossover regimes.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of population balanced and imbalanced ultracold atomic Fermi gases with a short-range attractive interaction throughout the crossover from BCS to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), in a two-dimensional (2D) optical lattice comprised of a 2D array of 1D lines. We find that the mixing of lattice and continuum dimensions, together with population imbalance, has an extraordinary effect on pairing and the superfluidity of atomic Fermi gases. In the balanced case, the superfluid ground state prevails over the majority of the phase space. However, for relatively small lattice hopping integral
t and large lattice constant
d, a pair density wave (PDW) emerges unexpectedly at intermediate coupling strength, and the nature of the in-plane and overall pairing changes from particlelike to holelike in the BCS and unitary regimes, associated with an abnormal increase in the Fermi volume with the pairing strength. In the imbalanced case, the stable polarized superfluid phase shrinks to only a small portion of the entire phase space spanned by
t,d, imbalance
p, and interaction strength
U, mainly in the bosonic regime of low
p, moderately strong pairing, relatively large
t, and small
d. Due to the Pauli exclusion between paired and excessive fermions within the confined momentum space, a PDW phase emerges and the overall pairing evolves from particlelike into holelike, as the pairing strength grows stronger in the BEC regime. In both cases, the ground-state property is largely governed by the Fermi surface topology. These findings are very different from the cases of a pure 3D continuum, a 3D lattice, or a 1D optical lattice.
We investigate the superfluid phase transition in a gas of Fermi atoms loaded on a three-dimensional optical lattice. When the lattice potential is strong, this system can be well described by an attractive Hubbard model. In this model, we calculate the superfluid phase transition temperature Tc, including both superfluid and (spin and charge) density fluctuations within the self-consistent t-matrix theory and fluctuation exchange approximation, respectively. Since we treat these fluctuations in a consistent manner, our theory satisfies the required particle-hole symmetry over the entire BCS-BEC crossover region. We show that charge density fluctuations compete against superfluid fluctuations near the half-filling, leading to the suppression of Tc. As a result, the maximum Tc is obtained away the half-filling. Since the strong density fluctuations originate from the nesting property of the Fermi surface at the half filling (which is absent in a uniform gas with no lattice potential), our results would be useful in considering lattice effects on strong-coupling superfluidity.
We study the interference patterns of a superfluid Fermi gas released from optical lattices below and above Feshbach resonance based on a simple phenomenological approach. We first solve the order-parameter equation valid for the crossover from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid to a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) to obtain an initial distribution of subcondensates formed in an optical lattice. Then we investigate the coherent evolution of the subcondensates when both harmonic oscillator and optical lattice potentials are switched off. The interference patterns of the superfluid Fermi gas along the BCS-BEC crossover during a nearly ballistic expansion are calculated by means of Feynman propagator method combined with numerical simulations. The result obtained agrees with the recent experimental observation reported by the MIT group [J. K. Chin et al., Nature (London) 443, 961 (2006)].