Bogoliubov-de Gennes study of trapped spin-imbalanced unitary Fermi gases

It is quite common that several different phases exist simultaneously in a system of trapped quantum gases of ultra-cold atoms. One such example is the strongly-interacting Fermi gas with two imbalanced spin species, which has received a great amount of attention due to the possible presence of exotic superfluid phases. By employing novel numerical techniques and algorithms, we self-consistently solve the Bogoliubov de-Gennes equations, which describe Fermi superfluids in the mean-field framework. From this study, we investigate the novel phases of spin-imbalanced Fermi gases and examine the validity of the local density approximation (LDA), which is often invoked in the extraction of bulk properties from experimental measurements within trapped systems. We show how the validity of the LDA is affected by the trapping geometry, number of atoms and spin imbalance.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to be published in New J. Phys. (focus issue on "Strongly Correlated Quantum Fluids: From Ultracold Quantum Gases to QCD Plasmas"

Optimization of the design of superconducting inhomogeneous nanowires

We study optimization of superconducting properties of inhomogeneous nanowires. The main goal of this research is to find an optimized geometry that allows one to maximize the desired property of superconductors, such as the maximum value of local superconducting gap or total condensation energy. We consider axially symmetric design of multi-layered nanowires with possibility to adjust and change the layers thickness. We use numerical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations to obtain the local superconducting gap for different arrangements of the inhomogeneous structures. The value of the optimized properties can be up to 300% greater compared to a non-optimized geometry. The optimized configuration of multilayers strongly depends on the desired property one wants to optimize and on the number of layers in the nanowire.Comment: Published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 20, 195204 (2008

Nambu-Jona Lasinio and Nonlinear Sigma Models in Condensed Matter Systems

We review various connections between condensed matter systems with the Nambu-Jona Lasinio model and nonlinear sigma models. The field theoretical description of interacting systems offers a systematic framework to describe the dynamical generation of condensates. Resent findings of a duality between the Nambu-Jona Lasinio model and the nonlinear sigma model enables us to investigate various properties underlying both theories. In this review we mainly focus on inhomogeneous condensations in static situations. The various methods developed in the Nambu-Jona Lasinio model reveal the inhomogeneous phase structures and also yield new inhomogeneous solutions in the nonlinear sigma model owing to the duality. The recent progress on interacting systems in finite systems is also reviewed.Comment: 24pages, 10 figures, Invited review paper commissioned by Symmetry. Comments warmly welcom

Quantum Gross-Pitaevskii Equation

We introduce a non-commutative generalization of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for one-dimensional quantum gasses and quantum liquids. This generalization is obtained by applying the time-dependent variational principle to the variational manifold of continuous matrix product states. This allows for a full quantum description of many body system ---including entanglement and correlations--- and thus extends significantly beyond the usual mean-field description of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which is known to fail for (quasi) one-dimensional systems. By linearizing around a stationary solution, we furthermore derive an associated generalization of the Bogoliubov -- de Gennes equations. This framework is applied to compute the steady state response amplitude to a periodic perturbation of the potential.Comment: 4.{\epsilon} pages + references and 4 pages supplementary material (small revisions + extended discussion of periodic potential example

Generalized Second-Order Thomas-Fermi Method for Superfluid Fermi Systems

Using the $\hbar$-expansion of the Green's function of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equation, we extend the second-order Thomas-Fermi approximation to generalized superfluid Fermi systems by including the density-dependent effective mass and the spin-orbit potential. We first implement and examine the full correction terms over different energy intervals of the quasiparticle spectra in calculations of finite nuclei. Final applications of this generalized Thomas-Fermi method are intended for various inhomogeneous superfluid Fermi systems.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, PR

Composite Topological Excitations in Ferromagnet-Superconductor Heterostructures

We investigate the formation of a new type of composite topological excitation -- the skyrmion-vortex pair (SVP) -- in hybrid systems consisting of coupled ferromagnetic and superconducting layers. Spin-orbit interaction in the superconductor mediates a magnetoelectric coupling between the vortex and the skyrmion, with a sign (attractive or repulsive) that depends on the topological indices of the constituents. We determine the conditions under which a bound SVP is formed, and characterize the range and depth of the effective binding potential through analytical estimates and numerical simulations. Furthermore, we develop a semiclassical description of the coupled skyrmion-vortex dynamics and discuss how SVPs can be controlled by applied spin currents.Comment: Final version accepted by Physical Review Letters; 9 pages, 5 figure

Proximity effects at ferromagnet-superconductor interfaces

We study proximity effects at ferromagnet superconductor interfaces by self-consistent numerical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for the continuum, without any approximations. Our procedures allow us to study systems with long superconducting coherence lengths. We obtain results for the pair potential, the pair amplitude, and the local density of states. We use these results to extract the relevant proximity lengths. We find that the superconducting correlations in the ferromagnet exhibit a damped oscillatory behavior that is reflected in both the pair amplitude and the local density of states. The characteristic length scale of these oscillations is approximately inversely proportional to the exchange field, and is independent of the superconducting coherence length in the range studied. We find the superconducting coherence length to be nearly independent of the ferromagnetic polarization.Comment: 13 Pages total. Compressed .eps figs might display poorly, but will print fin