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arXiv:cond-mat/0605684 · Physical Review A

Finite temperature effects in trapped Fermi gases with population imbalance

Chih-Chun Chien, Qijin Chen, Yan He, Kathryn Levin

Published Aug 24, 2006• 23 citations
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Abstract

We study the finite temperature $T$ behavior of trapped Fermi gases as they undergo BCS--Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover, in the presence of a population imbalance. Our results, in qualitative agreement with recent experiments, show how the superfluid phase transition is directly reflected in the particle density profiles. We demonstrate that at $T\ensuremath{\ne}0$ and in the near-BEC and unitary regimes, the polarization is excluded from the superfluid core. Importantly, a substantial polarization fraction is carried by a normal region of the trap having strong pair correlations, which we associate with noncondensed pairs or the ``pseudogap phase.''

DOI
10.1103/physreva.74.021602

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We study the finite temperature TTT behavior of trapped Fermi gases as they undergo BCS--Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover, in the presence of a population imbalance. Our results, in qualitative agreement with recent experiments, show how the superfluid phase transition is directly reflected in the particle density profiles. We demonstrate that at T\ensuremath≠0T\ensuremath{\ne}0T\ensuremath=0 and in the near-BEC and unitary regimes, the polarization is excluded from the superfluid core. Importantly, a substantial polarization fraction is carried by a normal region of the trap having strong pair correlations, which we associate with noncondensed pairs or the ``pseudogap phase.''
The pairing and superfluid phenomena in a two-component Fermi gas can be strongly affected by the population and mass imbalances. Here we present phase diagrams of an atomic Fermi-Fermi mixture as they undergo BCS--Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover using a pairing fluctuation theory. We focus on the finite temperature and trap effects, with an emphasis on the mixture of 6{}^{6}6Li and 40{}^{40}40K. We show that there exist exotic types of phase separation in the (near-)BEC regime, associated with a pseudogap effect. Moreover, in the BCS and unitary regimes, the spatial density and gap profiles exhibit sandwichlike shell structures with superfluid or pseudogapped normal state in the middle shell. Such a sandwichlike shell structure appears when the mass imbalance increases beyond a certain threshold. Our result is relevant to future experiments on the 6{}^{6}6Li-40{}^{40}40K and other possible Fermi-Fermi mixtures.
We address the thermodynamics, density profiles, and superfluid density of trapped fermions undergoing BCS-BEC crossover. We consider the case of zero and finite population imbalance and apply the local density approximation (LDA) to include the trap potential. Our approach represents a fully self-consistent treatment of ``pseudogap effects.'' These effects reflect the distinction between the pair formation temperature T∗{T}^{*}T∗ and the pair condensation temperature Tc{T}_{c}Tc​. As a natural corollary, this temperature difference must be accommodated in the fermionic excitation spectrum Ek{E}_{\mathbf{k}}Ek​ to reflect the fact that fermions are paired at and above Tc{T}_{c}Tc​. It is precisely this natural corollary which has been omitted from all other many body approaches in the literature. At a formal level, we show how enforcing this corollary implies that pairing fluctuation or self-energy contributions enter into both the gap and the number equations; this is necessary in order to be consistent with a generalized Ward identity. At a less formal level, we demonstrate that we obtain physical results for the superfluid density ns(T){n}_{s}(T)ns​(T) at all temperatures. In contrast, previous work in the literature has led to nonmonotonic, or multivalued or discontinuous behavior for ns(T){n}_{s}(T)ns​(T). Because it reflects the essence of the superfluid state, we view the superfluid density as a critical measure of the physicality of a given crossover theory. In a similarly unique fashion, we emphasize that in order to properly address thermodynamic properties of a trapped Fermi gas, a necessary first step is to demonstrate that the particle density profiles are consistent with experiment. Without a careful incorporation of the distinction between the pairing gap and the order parameter, the LDA-derived density profiles (of the unpolarized gas) tend to exhibit sharp features at the condensate edge, which are never seen experimentally in the crossover regime. The lack of demonstrable consistency between theoretical and experimental density profiles, along with problematic behavior found for the superfluid density, casts doubt on previous claims in the literature concerning quantitative agreement between thermodynamical calculations and experiment.
In this paper we present a very general theoretical framework for addressing fermionic superfluids over the entire range of BCS to Bose Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover in the presence of population imbalance or spin polarization. Our emphasis is on providing a theory which reduces to the standard zero temperature mean-field theories in the literature, but necessarily includes pairing fluctuation effects at nonzero temperature within a consistent framework. Physically, these effects are associated with the presence of preformed pairs (or a fermionic pseudogap) in the normal phase, and pair excitations of the condensate, in the superfluid phase. We show how this finite TTT theory of fermionic pair condensates bears many similarities to the condensation of point bosons. In the process we examine three different types of condensate: the usual breached pair or Sarma phase and both the one- and two-plane-wave Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) states. The last of these has been discussed in the literature albeit only within a Landau-Ginzburg formalism, generally valid near Tc{T}_{c}Tc​. Here we show how to arrive at the two-plane-wave LOFF state in the ground state as well as at general temperature TTT.
We study population imbalanced Fermi mixtures under quasi-two-dimensional confinement at zero temperature. Using mean-field theory and the local-density approximation, we study the ground state configuration throughout the BEC-BCS crossover. We find the trapped system to be either fully normal or to consist of a superfluid core surrounded by a normal shell, which is itself either fully or partially polarized. Upon changing the trap imbalance, the trap configuration may undergo continuous transitions between the different ground states. Finally, we argue that thermal equilibration throughout the trap will be considerably slowed down at low temperatures when a superfluid phase is present.
We theoretically investigate excitation properties in the pseudogap regime of a trapped Fermi gas. Using a combined TTT-matrix theory with the local density approximation, we calculate strong-coupling corrections to single-particle local density of states (LDOS), as well as the single-particle local spectral weight (LSW). Starting from the superfluid phase transition temperature Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​, we clarify how the pseudogap structures in these quantities disappear with increasing the temperature. As in the case of a uniform Fermi gas, LDOS and LSW give different pseudogap temperatures T∗{T}^{*}T∗ and T∗∗{T}^{**}T∗∗ at which the pseudogap structures in these quantities completely disappear. Determining T∗{T}^{*}T∗ and T∗∗{T}^{**}T∗∗ over the entire BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer)-BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) crossover region, we identify the pseudogap regime in the phase diagram with respect to the temperature and the interaction strength. We also show that the so-called back-bending peak recently observed in the photoemission spectra by the JILA group may be explained as an effect of pseudogap phenomenon in the trap center. Since strong pairing fluctuations, spatial inhomogeneity, and finite temperatures are important keys in considering real cold Fermi gases, our results would be useful for clarifying normal-state properties of this strongly interacting Fermi system.
We investigate single-particle properties of a mass-imbalanced Fermi gas in the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer)--BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) crossover region. In the presence of mass imbalance, we point out that the ordinary TTT-matrix approximation, which has been extensively used to clarify various BCS-BEC crossover physics in the mass-balanced case, unphysically gives a double-valued solution in terms of the superfluid phase transition temperature Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​ in the crossover region. To overcome this serious problem, we include higher order strong-coupling corrections beyond the TTT-matrix level. Using this extended TTT-matrix theory, we calculate single-particle excitations in the normal state above Tc{T}_{\mathrm{c}}Tc​. The so-called pseudogap phenomena originating from pairing fluctuations are shown to be different between the light-mass component and heavy-mass component, which becomes more remarkable at higher temperatures. Since Fermi condensates with hetero-Cooper pairs have recently been discussed in various fields, such as exciton (polariton) condensates as well as color superconductivity, our results would be useful for the further development of Fermi superfluid physics, beyond the conventional superfluid state with homo-Cooper pairs.