Validity of the Gor'kov expansion near the upper critical field in type II superconductors

We have examined the validity of the Gor'kov expansion in the strength of the order parameter of type II superconductors near the upper critical field. Although the degeneracy of the electron levels in a magnetic field gives non- perturbative terms in the solution to the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations we find, contrary to recent claims, that these non-perturbative terms cancel in the expression for the thermodynamic potential, and that the traditional Gor'kov theory is correct sufficiently close to Hc2 at finite temperature. We have derived conditions for the validity of the Gor'kov theory which essentially state, that the change in the quasiparticle energies as compared to the normal state energies cannot be too large compared to the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. One reference adde

Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory versus local-density approximation for superfluid trapped fermionic atoms

We investigate a gas of superfluid fermionic atoms trapped in two hyperfine states by a spherical harmonic potential. We propose a new regularization method to remove the ultraviolet divergence in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations caused by the use of a zero-range atom-atom interaction. Compared with a method used in the literature, our method is simpler and has improved convergence properties. Then we compare Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations with the semiclassical local-density approximation. We observe that for systems containing a small number of atoms shell effects, which cannot be reproduced by the semiclassical calculation, are very important. For systems with a large number of atoms at zero temperature the two calculations are in quite good agreement, which, however, is deteriorated at non-zero temperature, especially near the critical temperature. In this case the different behavior can be explained within the Ginzburg-Landau theory.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, revtex; v2: references and clarifying remarks adde

Pairing of fermions in atomic traps and nuclei

Pairing gaps for fermionic atoms in harmonic oscillator traps are calculated for a wide range of interaction strengths and particle number, and compared to pairing in nuclei. Especially systems, where the pairing gap exceeds the level spacing but is smaller than the shell splitting $\hbar\omega$, are studied which applies to most trapped Fermi atomic systems as well as to finite nuclei. When solving the gap equation for a large trap with such multi-level pairing, one finds that the matrix elements between nearby harmonic oscillator levels and the quasi-particle energies lead to a double logarithm of the gap, and a pronounced shell structure at magic numbers. It is argued that neutron and proton pairing in nuclei belongs to the class of multi-level pairing, that their shell structure follows naturally and that the gaps scale as $\sim A^{-1/3}$ - all in qualitative agreement with odd-even staggering of nuclear binding energies. Pairing in large systems are related to that in the bulk limit. For large nuclei the neutron and proton superfluid gaps approach the asymptotic value in infinite nuclear matter: $\Delta\simeq 1.1$ MeV.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Laser probing of Cooper-paired trapped atoms

We consider a gas of trapped Cooper-paired fermionic atoms which are manipulated by laser light. The laser induces a transition from an internal state with large negative scattering length (superfluid) to one with weaker interactions (normal gas). We show that the process can be used to detect the presence of the superconducting order parameter. Also, we propose a direct way of measuring the size of the gap in the trap. The efficiency and feasibility of this probing method is investigated in detail in different physical situations.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Vortices in superfluid trapped Fermi gases at zero temperature

We discuss various aspects of the vortex state of a dilute superfluid atomic Fermi gas at T=0. The energy of the vortex in a trapped gas is calculated and we provide an expression for the thermodynamic critical rotation frequency of the trap for its formation. Furthermore, we propose a method to detect the presence of a vortex by calculating the effect of its associated velocity field on the collective mode spectrum of the gas

Optical detection of a BCS transition of Lithium-6 in harmonic traps

We study the detection of a BCS transition within a sample of Lithium--6 atoms confined in a harmonic trap. Using the local density approximation we calculate the pair correlation function in the normal and superfluid state at zero temperature. We show that the softening of the Fermi hole associated with a BCS transition leads to an observable increase in the intensity of off--resonant light scattered from the atomic cloud at small angles.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter

Resonance effects on the crossover of bosonic to fermionic superfluidity

Feshbach scattering resonances are being utilized in atomic gases to explore the entire crossover region from a Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) of composite bosons to a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) of Cooper pairs. Several theoretical descriptions of the crossover have been developed based on an assumption that the fermionic interactions are dependent only on the value of a single microscopic parameter, the scattering length for the interaction of fermion particles. Such a picture is not universal, however, and is only applicable to describe a system with an energetically broad Feshbach resonance. In the more general case in which narrow Feshbach resonances are included in the discussion, one must consider how the energy dependence of the scattering phase shift affects the physical properties of the system. We develop a theoretical framework which allows for a tuning of the scattering phase shift and its energy dependence, whose parameters can be fixed from realistic scattering solutions of the atomic physics. We show that BCS-like nonlocal solutions may build up in conditions of resonance scattering, depending on the effective range of the interactions.Comment: 8 pages,7 figure