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arXiv:cond-mat/0608662 · Physical Review B

Theory of superfluids with population imbalance: Finite-temperature and BCS-BEC crossover effects

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

Published Jan 17, 2007• 31 citations
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Abstract

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 $T$ 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 ${T}_{c}$. Here we show how to arrive at the two-plane-wave LOFF state in the ground state as well as at general temperature $T$.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.75.014521

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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 sss-wave superconductivity in the two-dimensional attractive Hubbard model in an applied magnetic field, assume the extreme Pauli limit, and examine the role of spatial fluctuations in the coupling regime corresponding to BCS-BEC crossover. We use a decomposition of the interaction in terms of an auxiliary pairing field, retain the static mode, and sample the pairing field via a Monte Carlo approach. The method requires iterative solution of the Bogoliubov--de-Gennes equations for amplitude- and phase-fluctuating configurations of the pairing field. We establish the full thermal phase diagram of this strong-coupling problem. At low field we observe the magnetized but homogeneous ``breached pair'' superfluid phase. It reveals that Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ scales an order of magnitude below the mean-field estimate, spontaneous inhomogeneity in the field-induced magnetization, and a strong nonmonotonicity in the temperature dependence of the low-energy density of states. We compare our results to the experimental phase diagram of the imbalanced Fermi gas at unitarity. At higher field we obtain the modulated Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phases. The thermal transition from the FFLO phases to the normal state is strongly first order. We track the fermionic momentum distribution, the density of states, and the pairing structure factor deep into the normal state. The pairing structure factor retains weak signature of finite momentum pairing to a high temperature despite the low Tc{T}_{c}Tc​ itself, while the spin-resolved density of states changes from the ``pseudogapped'' FFLO character to gapless and pseudogapped again with increasing temperature.
We study s-wave pairing of population imbalanced Fermi atoms in quasi two dimensions using a mean field theory. At zero temperature, we map out the phase diagram in the entire Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer-Bose Einstein condensation (BCS-BEC) crossover region by investigating the effect of weak atom tunneling between layers. We find that the superfluid phase stabilizes as one decreases the atom tunneling between layers. This allows one to control the superfluid-normal first order phase transition by tuning a single experimental parameter. Further, we find that a tunneling induced polarized superfluid phase appears in a narrow parameter region in the BEC regime. At Finite temperatures, we use a Landau-Ginzberg functional approach to investigate the possibility of spatially inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase in the weakly interacting BCS limit near the tricritical point of spatially homogenous superfluid, FFLO, and normal phases. We find that the normal-FFLO phase transition is first order transition as opposed to the continues transition predicted in zero temperature theories.
We investigate the temperature effects in an imbalanced superfluid atomic Fermi gas. We consider a bilayer system of two-component dipolar fermionic atoms with one layer containing atoms of one component and the other layer the atoms of other component with an imbalance between the populations of the two components. This imbalance results in uniform and nonuniform superfluid phases such as phase-separated BCS, Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO), Sarma and normal Fermi liquid phases for different system parameters. Using the mean-field BCS theory together with the superfluid mass-density criterion we classify different phases in thermodynamic phase diagram. Our results indicate that for a dipolar Fermi system the Sarma phase is stable for large imbalance at finite temperature below the critical temperature, and the FFLO phase is stable for intermediate imbalance on the BCS side of a BCS-BCE crossover. The phase diagram in the temperature and population imbalance plane indicate three Lifshitz points: one corresponding to coexistance of BCS, FFLO and normal Fermi liquid phase while the other two correspond to the coexistance of the Sarma phase, FFLO phase and normal Fermi phase for dipolar interactions.
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.
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 $T\ensuremath{\ne}0$ 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.''
This article is written as a Lecture given in the 2006 Varenna Summer School on "Ultracold Fermi Gases". Here we present a review of BCS--Bose Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover theory with emphasis on finite temperature effects. We discuss the role of temperature TTT as it enters a theoretical formalism which is based on the standard BCS-Leggett ground state. We also discuss the role of temperature in the context of experiments ranging from thermometric issues to signatures of superfluidity. Particularly important to this discussion is the novel normal state associated with the crossover regime, intermediate between BCS and BEC. The experimental evidence for this unusual normal state (associated with pre-formed pairs) and its counterpart below TcT_cTc​ (associated with non-condensed pairs) is presented in the context of different experiments. We end with a discussion of finite temperature effects in spin polarized superfluids, where TTT is found to play a crucial role in both theory and experiment.