Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:cond-mat/0011333 · Physical Review A

Laser probing of Cooper-paired trapped atoms

Georg M. Bruun, Päivi Törmä, Mirta Rodríguez, P. Zoller

Published Aug 16, 2001• 39 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider a gas of trapped Cooper-paired fermionic atoms that are manipulated by laser light. The laser induces a transition from an internal state with large negative scattering length (superfluid) to one with weaker interactions (normal gas). We show that the process can be used to detect the presence of the superconducting order parameter. Also, we propose a direct way of measuring the size of the gap in the trap. The efficiency and feasibility of this probing method is investigated in detail in different physical situations.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.64.033609

Related papers

Laser Probing of Atomic Cooper Pairs

Päivi Törmä, P. Zoller

We consider a gas of attractively interacting cold fermionic atoms which are manipulated by laser light. The laser induces a transition from an internal state with large negative scattering length to one with almost no interactions. The process can be viewed as a tunneling of atomic population between the superconducting and the normal states of the gas. It can be used to detect the BCS ground state and to measure the superconducting order parameter.

arXiv:cond-mat/0001341•Physical Review Letters•Jul 17, 2000•111 citations

Poking at Atomic Cooper Pairs

The recent observation of the onset of degeneracy in a Fermi gas, in which the atoms are cooled to such low temperatures that their associated de Broglie waves start to overlap, has opened up new opportunities in atomic and quantum physics. One prediction is that the interaction between Fermionic atoms can be tuned to form Cooper pairs, just as two electrons do in superconductors when they overcome their Coulombic repulsion and pair up. However, the expectedly small superconducting gap and the nature of the Fermionic system will require new techniques. Törma and Zoller propose using laser pulses to detect the superconducting ground state of the atomic Cooper pair and determine the extent of the pairing. Lasers would be used to tune and manipulate the coupling between the internal energy levels of the atoms, which would alter their interaction strength, and should result in a controllable and measurable phase transition between the superconducting and normal states. — ISO

Science•Aug 4, 2000•0 citations

Cooper pair coherence in a superfluid Fermi gas of atoms

Gheorghe Sorin Paraoanu, Mirta Rodríguez, Päivi Törmä

We study the coherence properties of a trapped two-component gas of fermionic atoms below the BCS critical temperature. We propose an optical method to investigate the Cooper pair coherence across different regions of the superfluid. Near-resonant laser light is used to induce transitions between the two coupled hyperfine states. The beam is split so that it probes two spatially separate regions of the gas. Absorption of the light in this interferometric scheme depends on the Cooper pair coherence between the two regions.

arXiv:cond-mat/0109021•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Nov 23, 2001•4 citations

Light scattering in Cooper-paired Fermi atoms

Bimalendu Deb

We present a detailed theoretical study of light scattering off superfluid trapped Fermi gas of atoms at zero temperature. We apply Nambu-Gorkov formalism of superconductivity to calculate the response function of superfluid gas due to stimulated light scattering taking into account the final state interactions. The polarization of light has been shown to play a significant role in response of Cooper-pairs in the presence of a magnetic field. Particularly important is a scheme of polarization-selective light scattering by either spin-component of the Cooper-pairs leading to the single-particle excitations of one spin-component only. These excitations have a threshold of $2Δ$ where $Δ$ is the superfluid gap energy. Furthermore, polarization-selective light scattering allows for unequal energy and momentum transfer to the two partner atoms of a Cooper-pair. In the regime of low energy ($<< 2Δ$) and low momentum ($<2Δ/(\hbar v_F)$, $v_F$ being the Fermi velocity) transfer, a small difference in momentum transfers to the two spin-components may be useful in exciting Bogoliubov-Anderson phonon mode. We present detailed results on the dynamic structure factor (DSF) deduced from the response function making use of generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Model calculations using local density approximation for trapped superfluid Fermi gas shows that when the energy transfer is less than $2Δ_0$, where $Δ_0$ refers to the gap at the trap center, DSF as a function of energy transfer has reduced gradient compared to that of normal Fermi gas.

arXiv:cond-mat/0509328•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Dec 28, 2005•10 citations

Optical detection of a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer phase transition in a trapped gas of fermionic atoms

Weiping Zhang, Charles A. Sackett, Randall G. Hulet

A theoretical treatment of light scattering from a degenerate Fermi gas of trapped ultracold ${}^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ atoms is presented. We find that the scattered light contains information that directly reflects the quantum pair correlation due to the formation of atomic Cooper pairs resulting from a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer phase transition to a superfluid state. Evidence for pairing should be observable in both the space and time domains.

arXiv:cond-mat/9902350•Physical Review A•Jul 1, 1999•50 citations

Realizing one-dimensional topological superfluids with ultracold atomic gases

Sylvain Nascimbène

We propose an experimental implementation of a topological superfluid with ultracold fermionic atoms. An optical superlattice is used to juxtapose a 1D gas of fermionic atoms and a 2D conventional superfluid of condensed Feshbach molecules. The latter acts as a Cooper pair reservoir and effectively induces a superfluid gap in the 1D system. Combined with a spin-dependent optical lattice along the 1D tube and laser-induced atom tunneling, we obtain a topological superfluid phase. In the regime of weak couplings to the molecular fl eld and for a uniform gas the atomic system is equivalent to Kitaev's model of a p-wave superfluid. Using a numerical calculation we show that the topological superfluidity is robust beyond the perturbative limit and in the presence of a harmonic trap. Finally we describe how to investigate some physical properties of the Majorana fermions located at the topological superfluid boundaries. In particular we discuss how to prepare and detect a given Majorana edge state.

arXiv:1210.0687•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jun 24, 2013•55 citations
We consider a gas of trapped Cooper-paired fermionic atoms that are manipulated by laser light. The laser induces a transition from an internal state with large negative scattering length (superfluid) to one with weaker interactions (normal gas). We show that the process can be used to detect the presence of the superconducting order parameter. Also, we propose a direct way of measuring the size of the gap in the trap. The efficiency and feasibility of this probing method is investigated in detail in different physical situations.
The recent observation of the onset of degeneracy in a Fermi gas, in which the atoms are cooled to such low temperatures that their associated de Broglie waves start to overlap, has opened up new opportunities in atomic and quantum physics. One prediction is that the interaction between Fermionic atoms can be tuned to form Cooper pairs, just as two electrons do in superconductors when they overcome their Coulombic repulsion and pair up. However, the expectedly small superconducting gap and the nature of the Fermionic system will require new techniques. Törma and Zoller propose using laser pulses to detect the superconducting ground state of the atomic Cooper pair and determine the extent of the pairing. Lasers would be used to tune and manipulate the coupling between the internal energy levels of the atoms, which would alter their interaction strength, and should result in a controllable and measurable phase transition between the superconducting and normal states. — ISO
We study the coherence properties of a trapped two-component gas of fermionic atoms below the BCS critical temperature. We propose an optical method to investigate the Cooper pair coherence across different regions of the superfluid. Near-resonant laser light is used to induce transitions between the two coupled hyperfine states. The beam is split so that it probes two spatially separate regions of the gas. Absorption of the light in this interferometric scheme depends on the Cooper pair coherence between the two regions.
We present a detailed theoretical study of light scattering off superfluid trapped Fermi gas of atoms at zero temperature. We apply Nambu-Gorkov formalism of superconductivity to calculate the response function of superfluid gas due to stimulated light scattering taking into account the final state interactions. The polarization of light has been shown to play a significant role in response of Cooper-pairs in the presence of a magnetic field. Particularly important is a scheme of polarization-selective light scattering by either spin-component of the Cooper-pairs leading to the single-particle excitations of one spin-component only. These excitations have a threshold of 2Δ2Δ2Δ where ΔΔΔ is the superfluid gap energy. Furthermore, polarization-selective light scattering allows for unequal energy and momentum transfer to the two partner atoms of a Cooper-pair. In the regime of low energy (<<2Δ<< 2Δ<<2Δ) and low momentum (<2Δ/(ℏvF)<2Δ/(\hbar v_F)<2Δ/(ℏvF​), vFv_FvF​ being the Fermi velocity) transfer, a small difference in momentum transfers to the two spin-components may be useful in exciting Bogoliubov-Anderson phonon mode. We present detailed results on the dynamic structure factor (DSF) deduced from the response function making use of generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Model calculations using local density approximation for trapped superfluid Fermi gas shows that when the energy transfer is less than 2Δ02Δ_02Δ0​, where Δ0Δ_0Δ0​ refers to the gap at the trap center, DSF as a function of energy transfer has reduced gradient compared to that of normal Fermi gas.
A theoretical treatment of light scattering from a degenerate Fermi gas of trapped ultracold 6Li{}^{6}\mathrm{Li}6Li atoms is presented. We find that the scattered light contains information that directly reflects the quantum pair correlation due to the formation of atomic Cooper pairs resulting from a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer phase transition to a superfluid state. Evidence for pairing should be observable in both the space and time domains.
We propose an experimental implementation of a topological superfluid with ultracold fermionic atoms. An optical superlattice is used to juxtapose a 1D gas of fermionic atoms and a 2D conventional superfluid of condensed Feshbach molecules. The latter acts as a Cooper pair reservoir and effectively induces a superfluid gap in the 1D system. Combined with a spin-dependent optical lattice along the 1D tube and laser-induced atom tunneling, we obtain a topological superfluid phase. In the regime of weak couplings to the molecular fl eld and for a uniform gas the atomic system is equivalent to Kitaev's model of a p-wave superfluid. Using a numerical calculation we show that the topological superfluidity is robust beyond the perturbative limit and in the presence of a harmonic trap. Finally we describe how to investigate some physical properties of the Majorana fermions located at the topological superfluid boundaries. In particular we discuss how to prepare and detect a given Majorana edge state.