1,273 research outputs found
Spin Excitations in a Fermi Gas of Atoms
We have experimentally investigated a spin excitation in a quantum degenerate
Fermi gas of atoms. In the hydrodynamic regime the damping time of the
collective excitation is used to probe the quantum behavior of the gas. At
temperatures below the Fermi temperature we measure up to a factor of 2
reduction in the excitation damping time. In addition we observe a strong
excitation energy dependence for this quantum statistical effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Inducing spin-dependent tunneling to probe magnetic correlations in optical lattices
We suggest a simple experimental method for probing antiferromagnetic spin
correlations of two-component Fermi gases in optical lattices. The method
relies on a spin selective Raman transition to excite atoms of one spin species
to their first excited vibrational mode where the tunneling is large. The
resulting difference in the tunneling dynamics of the two spin species can then
be exploited, to reveal the spin correlations by measuring the number of doubly
occupied lattice sites at a later time. We perform quantum Monte Carlo
simulations of the spin system and solve the optical lattice dynamics
numerically to show how the timed probe can be used to identify
antiferromagnetic spin correlations in optical lattices.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Antiferromagnetic noise correlations in optical lattices
We analyze how noise correlations probed by time-of-flight (TOF) experiments
reveal antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations of fermionic atoms in
two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) optical lattices. Combining
analytical and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations using experimentally
realistic parameters, we show that AF correlations can be detected for
temperatures above and below the critical temperature for AF ordering. It is
demonstrated that spin-resolved noise correlations yield important information
about the spin ordering. Finally, we show how to extract the spin correlation
length and the related critical exponent of the AF transition from the noise.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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
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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
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 , 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 - 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: MeV.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Transition from Collisionless to Hydrodynamic Behaviour in an Ultracold Atomic Gas
Relative motion in a two-component, trapped atomic gas provides a sensitive
probe of interactions. By studying the lowest frequency excitations of a two
spin-state gas confined in a magnetic trap, we have explored the transition
from the collisionless to the hydrodynamic regime. As a function of collision
rate, we observe frequency shifts as large as 6% as well as a dramatic,
non-monotonic dependence of the damping rate. The measurements agree
qualitatively with expectations for behavior in the collisionless and
hydrodynamic limits and are quantitatively compared to a classical kinetic
model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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
Laser-induced collective excitations in a two-component Fermi gas
We consider the linear density response of a two-component (superfluid) Fermi
gas of atoms when the perturbation is caused by laser light. We show that
various types of laser excitation schemes can be transformed into linear
density perturbations, however, a Bragg spectroscopy scheme is needed for
transferring energy and momentum into a collective mode. This makes other types
of laser probing schemes insensitive for collective excitations and therefore
well suited for the detection of the superfluid order parameter. We show that
for the special case when laser light is coupled between the two components of
the Fermi gas, density response is always absent in a homogeneous system.Comment: 6 pages, no figure
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