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arXiv:cond-mat/0402620 · Physical Review Letters

Pairing Fluctuations in Trapped Fermi Gases

Luciano Viverit, Georg M. Bruun, Anna Minguzzi, Rosario Fazio

Published Sep 10, 2004• 13 citations
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Abstract

We examine the contribution of pairing fluctuations to the superfluid order parameter for harmonically trapped atomic Fermi gases in the BCS regime. In the limit of small systems we consider, both analytically and numerically, their space and temperature dependence. We predict a parity effect, i.e., that pairing fluctuations show a maximum or a minimum at the center of the trap, depending on the value of the last occupied shell being even or odd. We propose to detect pairing fluctuations by measuring the density-density correlation function after a ballistic expansion of the gas.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.93.110406

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We examine the contribution of pairing fluctuations to the superfluid order parameter for harmonically trapped atomic Fermi gases in the BCS regime. In the limit of small systems we consider, both analytically and numerically, their space and temperature dependence. We predict a parity effect, i.e., that pairing fluctuations show a maximum or a minimum at the center of the trap, depending on the value of the last occupied shell being even or odd. We propose to detect pairing fluctuations by measuring the density-density correlation function after a ballistic expansion of the gas.
We develop a quantitative analytic theory that accurately describes the odd-even effect observed experimentally in a one-dimensional, trapped Fermi gas with a small number of particles [G. Z\"urn et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 175302 (2013)]. We find that the underlying physics is similar to the parity effect known to exist in ultrasmall mesoscopic superconducting grains and atomic nuclei. However, in contrast to superconducting nanograins, the density (Hartree) correction dominates over the superconducting pairing fluctuations and leads to a much more pronounced odd-even effect in the mesoscopic, trapped Fermi gas. We calculate the corresponding parity parameter and separation energy using both perturbation theory and a path integral framework in the mesoscopic limit, generalized to account for the effects of the trap, pairing fluctuations, and Hartree corrections. Our results are in an excellent quantitative agreement with experimental data and exact diagonalization. Finally, we discuss a few-particle to many-particle crossover between the perturbative mesoscopic regime and nonperturbative many-body physics that the system approaches in the thermodynamic limit.
We develop a quantitative analytic theory that accurately describes the odd-even effect observed experimentally in a one-dimensional, trapped Fermi gas with a small number of particles [G. Z\urn et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 175302 (2013)]. We find that the underlying physics is similar to the parity effect known to exist in ultrasmall mesoscopic superconducting grains and atomic nuclei. However, in contrast to superconducting nanograins, the density fluctuation effect (Hartree correction) dominates over the superconducting pairing fluctuations and leads to a much more pronounced odd-even effect in the mesoscopic, trapped Fermi gas. We calculate the corresponding parity parameter and separation energy using both perturbation theory and a path integral framework, generalized to account for the effects of the trap, pairing fluctuations, and Hartree corrections. Our results are in an excellent quantitative agreement with experimental data and exact diagonalization. Finally, we describe a few-to-many particle crossover between the perturbative mesoscopic regime and non-perturbative many-body physics that the system approaches in the thermodynamic limit.
The superfluidity and pairing phenomena in ultracold atomic Fermi gases have been of great interest in recent years, with multiple tunable parameters. Here we study the BCS-BEC crossover behavior of balanced two-component Fermi gases in a one-dimensional optical lattice, which is distinct from the simple three-dimensional (3D) continuum and a fully 3D lattice often found in a condensed matter system. We use a pairing fluctuation theory which includes self-consistent feedback effects at finite temperatures and find widespread pseudogap phenomena beyond the BCS regime. As a consequence of the lattice periodicity, the superfluid transition temperature Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​ decreases with pairing strength in the BEC regime, where it approaches asymptotically ${T}_{\mathrm{c}}=\ensuremath{\pi}an/2m$, with aaa being the sss-wave scattering length, and nnn (mmm) the fermion density (mass). In addition, the quasi-two dimensionality leads to fast-growing (absolute value of the) fermionic chemical potential $\ensuremath{\mu}$ and pairing gap $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$, which depends exponentially on the ratio d/ad/ad/a. Importantly, Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​ at unitarity increases with the lattice constant ddd and hopping integral ttt. The effect of the van Hove singularity on Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​ is identified. The superfluid density exhibits T3/2{T}^{3/2}T3/2 power laws at low TTT, away from the extreme BCS limit. These predictions can be tested in future experiments.
We investigate strong pairing fluctuations and effects of a harmonic trap in the superfluid phase of an ultracold Fermi gas. Including amplitude and phase fluctuations of the inhomogeneous superfluid order parameter $\ensuremath{\Delta}(r)$ in a trap within a combined TTT-matrix theory with the local density approximation, we examine local properties of single-particle excitations and a thermodynamic quantity in the BCS-BEC crossover region. Below the superfluid phase transition temperature Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​, we show that inhomogeneous pairing fluctuations lead to a shell structure of the gas cloud in which the spatial region where the ordinary BCS-type superfluid density of states appears surrounded by the region where the pseudogap associated with strong pairing fluctuations dominates single-particle excitations. The former spatial region enlarges to eventually cover the whole gas cloud far below Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​. We also examine how this shell structure affects the photoemission spectrum, as well as the local pressure. Since a cold Fermi gas is always trapped in a harmonic potential, our results would be useful for the study of strong-coupling superfluid physics, including this realistic situation.
The pair correlation function of an expanding gas is investigated with an emphasis on the BEC-BCS crossover of a superfluid Fermi gas at zero temperature. At unitarity quantum Monte Carlo simulations reveal the occurrence of a sizable bunching effect due to interactions in the spin up-down channel which, at short distances, is larger than that exhibited by thermal bosons in the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss effect. We propose a local equilibrium ansatz for the pair correlation function which we predict will remain isotropic during the expansion even if the trapping potential is anisotropic, in contrast with the behavior of the density. The isotropy of the pair correlation function is an experimentally accessible signature, which makes a clear distinction with respect to the case of noninteracting gases and can be understood as a consequence of the violation of scaling.
We investigate density fluctuations in a coherent ensemble of interacting fermionic atoms. Adapting the concept of full counting statistics, well known from quantum optics and mesoscopic electron transport, we study second-order as well as higher-order correlators of density fluctuations. Using the mean-field BCS state to describe the whole interval between the BCS limit and the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) limit, we obtain an exact expression for the cumulant-generating function of the density fluctuations of an atomic cloud. In the two-dimensional case, we obtain a closed analytical expression. Poissonian fluctuations of a molecular condensate on the BEC side are strongly suppressed on the BCS side. The size of the fluctuations in the BCS limit is a direct measure of the pairing potential. We also discuss the BEC-BCS crossover of the third cumulant and the temperature dependence of the second cumulant.