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arXiv:cond-mat/9906392 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Detection of the BCS transition in a trapped Fermi gas

Georg M. Bruun, Charles W. Clark

Published Sep 14, 2000• 21 citations
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Abstract

We investigate theoretically the quasiparticle properties of a trapped gas of fermionic atoms in both the normal and the superfluid phases. Our analysis, which accounts for the shell structure of the normal phase spectrum, shows that the single-particle response of the gas to a modulation of the trapping frequency should indicate the onset of superfluidity. The results are discussed in the context of current experiments on trapped Fermi gases.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/33/19/310

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We investigate theoretically the quasiparticle properties of a trapped gas of fermionic atoms in both the normal and the superfluid phases. Our analysis, which accounts for the shell structure of the normal phase spectrum, shows that the single-particle response of the gas to a modulation of the trapping frequency should indicate the onset of superfluidity. The results are discussed in the context of current experiments on trapped Fermi gases.
We investigate the dynamical properties of a superfluid gas of trapped fermionic atoms in the BCS phase. As a simple example we consider the reaction of the gas to a slow rotation of the trap. It is shown that the currents generated by the rotation can be understood within a two-fluid model similar to the one used in the theory of superconductors, but with a position-dependent ratio of normal and superfluid densities. The rather general result of this paper is that already at very low temperatures, far below the critical one, an important normal-fluid component appears in the outer regions of the gas. This renders the experimental observation of superfluidity effects more difficult and indicates that reliable theoretical predictions concerning other dynamical properties, like the frequencies of collective modes, can only be made by taking into account temperature effects.
We consider the low energy collective mode spectrum of a superfluid Fermi gas in a spherical trap in the collisionless regime. Using a self-consistent random-phase approximation, the effects of superfluidity on modes of dipole and quadrupole symmetries are systematically examined. The spectrum is calculated for varying pairing strength and temperature, and we identify several spectral features such as the emergence of Goldstone modes that can be used to detect the onset of superfluidity. Our analysis is relevant for present experiments aimed at observing a superfluid phase transition in trapped Fermi gases.
We propose a Bragg spectroscopy experiment to measure the onset of superfluid pairing in ultracold trapped Fermi gases. In particular, we study two-component Fermi gases in the weak coupling BCS and Bose Einstein condensation limits as well as in the strong coupling unitarity limit. The low-temperature Bragg spectrum exhibits a gap directly related to the pair-breaking energy. Furthermore, the Bragg spectrum has a large maximum just below the critical temperature when the gas is superfluid in the BCS limit. In the unitarity regime, we show how the pseudogap in the normal phase leads to a significant suppression of the low-frequency Bragg spectrum.
At finite temperature, the hydrodynamic collective modes of superfluid trapped Fermi gases are coupled to the motion of the normal component, which in the BCS limit behaves like a collisionless normal Fermi gas. The coupling between the superfluid and the normal components is treated in the framework of a semiclassical transport theory for the quasiparticle-distribution function, combined with a hydrodynamic equation for the collective motion of the superfluid component. We develop a numerical test-particle method for solving these equations in the linear-response regime. As a first application we study the temperature dependence of the collective quadrupole mode of a Fermi gas in a spherical trap. The coupling between the superfluid collective motion and the quasiparticles leads to a rather strong damping of the hydrodynamic mode already at very low temperatures. At higher temperatures the spectrum has a two-peak structure, the second peak corresponding to the quadrupole mode in the normal phase.
Superconductivity and superfluidity of fermions require, within the BCS theory, matching of the Fermi energies of the two interacting Fermion species. Difference in the number densities of the two species leads either to a normal state, to phase separation, or---potentially---to exotic forms of superfluidity such as Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state, Sarma state, or breached pair state. We consider ultracold Fermi gases with polarization, i.e., spin-density imbalance. We show that, due to the gases being trapped and isolated from the environment in terms of particle exchange, exotic forms of superfluidity appear as a shell around the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid core of the gas and, for large density imbalance, in the core as well. We obtain these results by describing the effect of the trapping potential by using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. For comparison to experiments, we calculate also the condensate fraction, and show that, in the center of the trap, a polarized superfluid leads to a small dip in the central density difference. We compare the results to those given by local density approximation and find qualitatively different behavior.
We consider the low energy collective monopole modes of a trapped weakly interacting atomic Fermi gas in the collisionless regime. The spectrum is calculated for varying coupling strength and chemical potential. Using an effective Hamiltonian, we derive analytical results that agree well with numerical calculations in various regimes. The onset of superfluidity is shown to lead to effects such as the vanishing of the energy required to create a Cooper molecule at a critical coupling strength and to the emergence of pair vibration excitations. Our analysis suggests ways to experimentally detect the presence of the superfluid phase in trapped atomic Fermi gases.