Condensation of pairs of fermionic atoms near a Feshbach resonance

Interaction-driven dynamics of 40K- 87Rb Fermion-Boson gas mixtures in the large-particle-number limit

We have studied effects of interspecies attraction in a Fermi-Bose mixture over a large regime of particle numbers in the 40K-87Rb system. We report on the observation of a mean-field driven collapse at critical particle numbers of 1.2 x 10(6) 87Rb atoms in the condensate and 7.5 x 10(5) 40K atoms consistent with mean-field theory for a scattering length of aFB = -284a(0). For large overcritical particle numbers, we see evidence for revivals of the collapse. Part of our detailed study of the decay dynamics and mechanisms is a measurement of the (87Rb- 87Rb- 40K) three-body loss coefficient K3 = (2.8 +/- 1.1) x 10(-28) cm6/s, which is an important parameter for dynamical studies of the system.

Thermodynamics of interacting fermions in atomic traps

We calculate the entropy in a trapped, resonantly interacting Fermi gas as a function of temperature for a wide range of magnetic fields between the BCS and Bose-Einstein condensation end points. This provides a basis for the important technique of adiabatic sweep thermometry and serves to characterize quantitatively the evolution and nature of the excitations of the gas. The results are then used to calibrate the temperature in several ground breaking experiments on (6)Li and (40)K.

Dressed Feshbach molecules in the BEC-BCS crossover

We present the random phase approximation (RPA) theory of the Bose-Einstein-condensation-Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer crossover in an atomic Fermi gas near a Feshbach resonance that includes the relevant two-body atomic physics exactly. This allows us to determine the probability for the dressed molecules in the Bose-Einstein condensate to be in the closed channel of the Feshbach resonance and to compare with the recent experiments of Partridge et al. [95, 020404 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.020404] with , who have measured the same quantity.

Momentum distribution of a Fermi gas of atoms in the BCS-BEC crossover

We observe dramatic changes in the atomic momentum distribution of a Fermi gas in the crossover region between the BCS theory superconductivity and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of molecules. We study the shape of the momentum distribution and the kinetic energy as a function of interaction strength. The momentum distributions are compared to a mean-field crossover theory, and the kinetic energy is compared to theories for the two weakly interacting limits. This measurement provides a unique probe of pairing in a strongly interacting Fermi gas.

Effective Hamiltonian for fermions in an optical lattice across a Feshbach resonance

We derive the Hamiltonian for cold fermionic atoms in an optical lattice across a broad Feshbach resonance, taking into account both multiband occupations and neighboring-site collisions. Under typical configurations, the resulting Hamiltonian can be dramatically simplified to an effective single-band model, which describes a new type of resonance between the local dressed molecules and the valence bond states of fermionic atoms at neighboring sites. On different sides of such a resonance, the effective Hamiltonian is reduced to either a t-J model for the fermionic atoms or an XXZ model for the dressed molecules. The parameters in these models are experimentally tunable in the full range, which allows for observation of various phase transitions.

Momentum distribution and condensate fraction of a fermion gas in the BCS-BEC crossover

By using the diffusion Monte Carlo method we calculate the one- and two-body density matrix of an interacting Fermi gas at T = 0 in the BCS to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover. Results for the momentum distribution of the atoms, as obtained from the Fourier transform of the one-body density matrix, are reported as a function of the interaction strength. Off-diagonal long-range order in the system is investigated through the asymptotic behavior of the two-body density matrix. The condensate fraction of pairs is calculated in the unitary limit and on both sides of the BCS-BEC crossover.

Itinerant ferromagnetism in an ultracold atom fermi gas

We address the possible occurrence of ultracold atom ferromagnetism by evaluating the free energy of a spin polarized Fermi gas to second order in its interaction parameter. We find that Hartree-Fock theory underestimates the tendency toward ferromagnetism, predict that the ferromagnetic transition is first order at low temperatures, and point out that the spin coherence time of gases prepared in a ferromagnetic state is strongly enhanced as the transition is approached. We relate our results to recent experiments.

Ultracold molecule production via a resonant oscillating magnetic field

A novel atom-molecule conversion technique has been investigated. Ultracold 85Rb atoms sitting in a dc magnetic field near the 155 G Feshbach resonance are associated by applying a small sinusoidal oscillation to the magnetic field. There is resonant atom to molecule conversion when the modulation frequency closely matches the molecular binding energy. We observe that the atom to molecule conversion efficiency depends strongly on the frequency, amplitude, and duration of the applied modulation and on the phase space density of the sample. This technique offers high conversion efficiencies without the necessity of crossing or closely approaching the Feshbach resonance and allows precise spectroscopic measurements. Efficiencies of 55% have been observed for pure Bose-Einstein condensates.

Quasi-two-dimensional superfluid fermionic gases

We study a quasi-two-dimensional superfluid Fermi gas where the confinement in the third direction is due to a strong harmonic trapping. We investigate the behavior of such a system when the chemical potential is varied and find strong modifications of the superfluid properties due to the discrete harmonic oscillator states. We show that such quasi-two-dimensional behavior can be created and observed with current experimental capabilities.

Quantum-degenerate mixture of fermionic lithium and bosonic rubidium gases

We report on the observation of sympathetic cooling of a cloud of fermionic 6Li atoms which are thermally coupled to evaporatively cooled bosonic 87Rb. Using this technique we obtain a mixture of quantum-degenerate gases, where the Rb cloud is colder than the critical temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation and the Li cloud is colder than the Fermi temperature. From measurements of the thermalization velocity we estimate the interspecies s-wave triplet scattering length |amx|=20(+9)(-6)aB. We found that the presence of residual rubidium atoms in the |2, 1> and the |1, -1> Zeeman substates gives rise to important losses due to inelastic collisions.

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices with random on-site interactions

We consider the physics of lattice bosons affected by disordered on-site interparticle interactions. Characteristic qualitative changes in the zero-temperature phase diagram are observed when compared to the case of randomness in the chemical potential. The Mott-insulating regions shrink and eventually vanish for any finite disorder strength beyond a sufficiently large filling factor. Furthermore, at low values of the chemical potential both the superfluid and Mott insulator are stable towards formation of a Bose glass leading to a possibly nontrivial tricritical point. We discuss feasible experimental realizations of our scenario in the context of ultracold atoms on optical lattices.

Specific heat of a fermionic atomic cloud in the unitary regime

In the unitary regime, when the scattering amplitude greatly exceeds in magnitude the average interparticle separation, and below the critical temperature thermal properties of an atomic fermionic cloud are governed by the collective modes, specifically the Bogoliubov-Anderson sound modes. The specific heat of an atomic cloud in an elongated trap, in particular, has a rather complex temperature dependence, which changes from an exponential behavior at very low temperatures (T << h omega(parallel)), to proportional T for h omega(parallel) << T << h omega(perpendicular) and then continuously to proportional T4 at temperatures just below the critical temperature, when the surface modes play a dominant role. Only the low (h omega(parallel) << T << h omega(perpendicular)) and high (h omega(perpendicular) << T << T(c)) temperature power laws are well defined. For the intermediate temperatures one can introduce at most a gradually increasing with temperature exponent.

Quantum decoupling transition in a one-dimensional Feshbach-resonant superfluid

We study a one-dimensional gas of fermionic atoms interacting via an s-wave molecular Feshbach resonance. At low energies the system is characterized by two Josephson-coupled Luttinger liquids, corresponding to paired atomic and molecular superfluids. We show that, in contrast to higher dimensions, the system exhibits a quantum phase transition from a phase in which the two superfluids are locked together to one in which, at low energies, quantum fluctuations suppress the Feshbach resonance (Josephson) coupling, effectively decoupling the molecular and atomic superfluids. Experimental signatures of this quantum transition include the appearance of an out-of-phase gapless mode (in addition to the standard gapless in-phase mode) in the spectrum of the decoupled superfluid phase and a discontinuous change in the molecular momentum distribution function.

Virial theorem and universality in a unitary fermi gas

Unitary Fermi gases, where the scattering length is large compared to the interparticle spacing, can have universal properties, which are independent of the details of the interparticle interactions when the range of the scattering potential is negligible. We prepare an optically trapped, unitary Fermi gas of 6Li, tuned just above the center of a broad Feshbach resonance. In agreement with the universal hypothesis, we observe that this strongly interacting many-body system obeys the virial theorem for an ideal gas over a wide range of temperatures. Based on this result, we suggest a simple volume thermometry method for unitary gases. We also show that the observed breathing mode frequency, which is close to the unitary hydrodynamic value over a wide range of temperature, is consistent with a universal hydrodynamic gas with nearly isentropic dynamics.

Phase separation and an upper bound for a generalized superfluid gap for cold fermi fluids in the unitary regime

An upper bound is derived for Delta for a cold dilute fluid of equal amounts of two species of fermion in the unitary limit k(f)a--> infinity (where k(f) is the Fermi momentum, a is the scattering length, and Delta is a pairing energy: the difference in energy per particle between adding to the system a macroscopic number (but infinitesimal fraction) of particles of one species compared to adding equal numbers of both. The bound is delta < or =5/3 [2(2xi)(2/5)-(2xi)] where xi=epsilon/epsilon(FG), delta=2Delta/epsilon(FG); epsilon is the energy per particle and epsilon(FG) is the energy per particle of a noninteracting Fermi gas. If the bound is saturated, then systems with unequal densities of the two species will separate spatially into a superfluid phase with equal numbers of the two species and a normal phase with the excess. If the bound is not saturated, then Delta is the usual superfluid gap. If the superfluid gap exceeds the maximum allowed by the inequality, phase separation occurs.

Ultracold two-component fermionic gases with a magnetic field gradient near a feshbach resonance

We study theoretically the ultracold two-component fermionic gases when a gradient magnetic field is used to tune the scattering length between atoms. For 6Li at the narrow resonance B0=543.25 G, it is shown that the gases would be in a coexistence of the regimes of BCS, Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), and unitarity limit with the present experimental technique. In the case of thermal and chemical equilibrium, we investigate the density distribution of the gases and show that a double peak of the density distribution can give us a clear evidence for the coexistence of BCS, BEC, and unitarity limit.

Simple mean-field theory for a zero-temperature fermionic gas at a Feshbach resonance

We present a simple two-channel mean-field theory for a zero-temperature two-component Fermi gas in the neighborhood of a Feshbach resonance. Our results agree with recent experiments on the bare-molecule fraction as a function of magnetic field [Partridge, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 020404 (2005)]. Even in this strongly coupled gas of 6Li, the experimental results depend on the structure of the molecules formed in the Feshbach resonance and, therefore, are not universal.

Dynamic projection on feshbach molecules: a probe of pairing and phase fluctuations

We describe and justify a simple model for the dynamics associated with rapid sweeps across a Feshbach resonance, from the atomic to the molecular side, in an ultracold Fermi system. The model allows us to relate the observed molecule momentum distribution to equilibrium properties of the initial state. In particular, the dependence of the total molecule number on the sweep rate is found to be a sensitive probe of pairing in the initial state, whether condensed or not. This can be used to establish the presence of a phase fluctuation induced "pseudogap" phase in these systems.

Conical intersection between the lowest spin-aligned Li3(A′4) potential-energy surfaces

We have calculated new potential-energy surfaces for the lowest two spin-aligned (4)A(') states of the Li(3) trimer. This calculation shows a seam of conical intersections between these states resulting from the extra symmetry of the system when the atoms are in a collinear arrangement. This seam is especially important because of its proximity to the three-body dissociation limit of the system; ultracold scattering calculations and the bound-state energies of the system will be affected by the presence of this conical intersection. In this paper we discuss the calculation of the potential-energy surface and the location of the conical intersection seam.

Density and spin response functions in ultracold fermionic atom gases

We propose a new method of detecting the onset of superfluidity in a two-component ultracold fermionic gas of atoms governed by an attractive short-range interaction. By studying the two-body correlation functions we find that a measurement of the momentum distribution of the density and spin-response functions allows one to access separately the normal and anomalous densities. The change in sign at low momentum transfer of the normal-ordered part of the density response function signals the transition between a BEC and a BCS regime, characterized by small and large pairs, respectively. This change in sign of the density response function represents an unambiguous signature of the BEC-to-BCS crossover. Spin rotational symmetry breaking due to the magnetic field, if observed, can be used to validate the one-channel model.

Four-body problem and BEC-BCS crossover in a quasi-one-dimensional cold fermion gas

The four-body problem for an interacting two-species Fermi gas is solved analytically in a confined quasi-one-dimensional geometry, where the two-body atom-atom scattering length a(aa) displays a confinement-induced resonance. We compute the dimer-dimer scattering length a(dd) and show that this quantity completely determines the many-body solution of the associated BEC-BCS crossover phenomenon in terms of bosonic dimers.

Anisotropic Fermi superfluid via p-wave Feshbach resonance

We investigate theoretically fermionic superfluidity induced by Feshbach resonance in the orbital p-wave channel and determine the general phase diagram. In contrast with superfluid (3)He, due to the dipole interaction, the pairing is extremely anisotropic. When this dipole interaction is relatively strong, the pairing has symmetry k(z). When it is relatively weak, it is of symmetry k(z) + ibetak(y) (up to a rotation about z;, here beta < 1). A phase transition between these two states can occur under a change in the magnetic field or the density of the gas.

Molecular probe of pairing in the BEC-BCS crossover

We have used optical molecular spectroscopy to probe the many-body state of paired 6Li atoms near a broad Feshbach resonance. The optical probe projects pairs of atoms onto a vibrational level of an excited molecule. The rate of excitation enables a precise measurement of the closed-channel contribution to the paired state. This contribution is found to be quite small, supporting the concept of universality for the description of broad Feshbach resonances. The dynamics of the excitation provide clear evidence for pairing across the BEC-BCS crossover and into the weakly interacting BCS regime.

Extracting the condensate density from projection experiments with Fermi gases

A debated issue in the physics of the BCS-BEC crossover with trapped Fermi atoms is to identify characteristic properties of the superfluid phase. Recently, a condensate fraction was measured on the BCS side of the crossover by sweeping the system in a fast (nonadiabatic) way from the BCS to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) sides, thus "projecting" the initial many-body state onto a molecular condensate. We analyze here the theoretical implications of these projection experiments, by identifying the appropriate quantum-mechanical operator associated with the measured quantities and relating them to the many-body correlations occurring in the BCS-BEC crossover. Calculations are presented over wide temperature and coupling ranges, by including pairing fluctuations on top of the mean field.

Quantum phase transitions across a p-wave Feshbach resonance

We study a single-species polarized Fermi gas tuned across a narrow p-wave Feshbach resonance. We show that in the course of a Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)-BCS crossover, the system can undergo a magnetic-field-tuned quantum phase transition from a px-wave to a px+ipy-wave superfluid. The latter state, that spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry, furthermore undergoes a topological px+ipy to px+ipy transition at zero chemical potential mu. In two dimensions, for mu > 0 it is characterized by a Pfaffian ground state exhibiting topological order and non-Abelian excitations familiar from fractional quantum Hall systems.

Atom interferometric detection of the pairing order parameter in a Fermi gas

We propose two interferometric schemes to experimentally detect in real space the onset of pair condensation in a two-spin-component Fermi gas. Two atomic wave packets are coherently extracted from the gas at different positions and are mixed by a matter-wave beam splitter: we show that the spatial long-range order of the atomic pairs in the gas reflects in the atom counting statistics in the beam splitter output channels. The same long-range order is also shown to create a matter-wave grating in the overlapping region of the two extracted wave packets, grating that can be revealed by a light-scattering experiment.

Scattering length scaling laws for ultracold three-body collisions

We present a simple and unifying picture that provides the energy and scattering length dependence for all inelastic three-body collision rates in the ultracold regime for three-body systems with short-range two-body interactions. Here, we present the scaling laws for vibrational relaxation, three-body recombination, and collision-induced dissociation for systems that support s-wave two-body collisions. These systems include three identical bosons, two identical bosons, and two identical fermions. Our approach reproduces all previous results, predicts several others, and gives the general form of the scaling laws in all cases.

Vortices and superfluidity in a strongly interacting Fermi gas

Quantum degenerate Fermi gases provide a remarkable opportunity to study strongly interacting fermions. In contrast to other Fermi systems, such as superconductors, neutron stars or the quark-gluon plasma of the early Universe, these gases have low densities and their interactions can be precisely controlled over an enormous range. Previous experiments with Fermi gases have revealed condensation of fermion pairs. Although these and other studies were consistent with predictions assuming superfluidity, proof of superfluid behaviour has been elusive. Here we report observations of vortex lattices in a strongly interacting, rotating Fermi gas that provide definitive evidence for superfluidity. The interaction and therefore the pairing strength between two 6Li fermions near a Feshbach resonance can be controlled by an external magnetic field. This allows us to explore the crossover from a Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules to a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid of loosely bound pairs. The crossover is associated with a new form of superfluidity that may provide insights into high-transition-temperature superconductors.

Calculation of accurate permanent dipole moments of the lowest Σ+1,3 states of heteronuclear alkali dimers using extended basis sets

Obtaining ultracold samples of dipolar molecules is a current challenge which requires an accurate knowledge of their electronic properties to guide the ongoing experiments. In this paper, we systematically investigate the ground state and the lowest triplet state of mixed alkali dimers (involving Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs) using a standard quantum chemistry approach based on pseudopotentials for atomic core representation, Gaussian basis sets, and effective terms for core polarization effects. We emphasize on the convergence of the results for permanent dipole moments regarding the size of the Gaussian basis set, and we discuss their predicted accuracy by comparing to other theoretical calculations or available experimental values. We also revisit the difficulty to compare computed potential curves among published papers, due to the differences in the modelization of core-core interaction.

Observation of Feshbach resonances in an ultracold gas of 52Cr

We have observed Feshbach resonances in collisions between ultracold 52Cr atoms. This is the first observation of collisional Feshbach resonances in an atomic species with more than one valence electron. The zero nuclear spin of 52Cr and thus the absence of a Fermi-contact interaction leads to regularly spaced resonance sequences. By comparing resonance positions with multichannel scattering calculations we determine the s-wave scattering length of the lowest (2S+1)Sigma(+)(g) potentials to be 112(14) a(0), 58(6) a(0), and -7(20) a(0) for S=6, 4, and 2, respectively, where a(0)=0.0529 nm.

Formation dynamics of a fermion pair condensate

The dynamics of pair condensate formation in a strongly interacting Fermi gas close to a Feshbach resonance was studied. We employed a phase-shift method in which the delayed response of the many-body system to a modulation of the interaction strength was recorded. The observable was the fraction of condensed molecules in the cloud after a rapid magnetic field ramp across the Feshbach resonance. The measured response time was slow compared to the rapid ramp, which provides final proof that the molecular condensates reflect the presence of fermion pair condensates before the ramp.

Damping of a unitary Fermi gas

We measure the temperature dependence of the radial breathing mode in an optically trapped, unitary Fermi gas of 6Li, just above the center of a broad Feshbach resonance. The damping rate reveals a clear change in behavior which we interpret as arising from a superfluid transition. We suggest pair breaking as a mechanism for an increase in the damping rate which occurs at temperatures well above the transition. In contrast to the damping, the frequency varies smoothly and remains close to the unitary hydrodynamic value. At low temperature T, the damping depends on the atom number only through the reduced temperature, and extrapolates to 0 at T = 0.

Dynamics of the BCS-BEC crossover in a degenerate Fermi gas

We study the short-time dynamics of a degenerate Fermi gas positioned near a Feshbach resonance following an abrupt jump in the atomic interaction resulting from a change of magnetic field. We investigate the dynamics of the condensate order parameter and pair wave function for a range of field strengths. When the jump is sufficient to span the BCS to Bose-Einstein condensation crossover, we show that the rigidity of the momentum distribution precludes any atom-molecule oscillations in the entrance channel dominated resonances observed in 40K and 6Li. Focusing on material parameters tailored to the 40K Feshbach resonance at 202.1 G, we comment on the integrity of the fast sweep projection technique as a vehicle to explore the condensed phase in the crossover region.

Production efficiency of ultracold feshbach molecules in bosonic and fermionic systems

We investigate the production efficiency of ultracold molecules in bosonic 85Rb and fermionic 40K when the magnetic field is swept across a Feshbach resonance. For adiabatic sweeps of the magnetic field, our novel model shows that the conversion efficiency of both species is solely determined by the phase space density of the atomic cloud, in contrast with a number of theoretical predictions. In the nonadiabatic regime our measurements of the 85Rb molecule conversion efficiency follow a Landau-Zener model.

Observation of Feshbach-like resonances in collisions between ultracold molecules

We observe magnetically tuned collision resonances for ultracold Cs2 molecules stored in a CO2-laser trap. By magnetically levitating the molecules against gravity, we precisely measure their magnetic moment. We find an avoided level crossing which allows us to transfer the molecules into another state. In the new state, two Feshbach-like collision resonances show up as strong inelastic loss features. We interpret these resonances as being induced by Cs4 bound states near the molecular scattering continuum. The tunability of the interactions between molecules opens up novel applications such as controlled chemical reactions and synthesis of ultracold complex molecules.

Probing pair-correlated fermionic atoms through correlations in atom shot noise

Pair-correlated fermionic atoms are created through dissociation of weakly bound molecules near a magnetic-field Feshbach resonance. We show that correlations between atoms in different spin states can be detected using the atom shot noise in absorption images. Furthermore, using time-of-flight imaging we have observed atom pair correlations in momentum space.

Precise determination of 6Li cold collision parameters by radio-frequency spectroscopy on weakly bound molecules

We employ radio-frequency spectroscopy on weakly bound (6)Li(2) molecules to precisely determine the molecular binding energies and the energy splittings between molecular states for different magnetic fields. These measurements allow us to extract the interaction parameters of ultracold (6)Li atoms based on a multichannel quantum scattering model. We determine the singlet and triplet scattering lengths to be a(s) = 45.167(8)a(0) and a(t) = -2140(18)a(0) (1a(0) = 0.052 917 7 nm), and the positions of the broad Feshbach resonances in the energetically lowest three s-wave scattering channels to be 83.41(15), 69.04(5), and 81.12(10) mT.

Laser cooling of fermions to the superfluid transition temperature

Numerical simulations for realistic experimental parameters demonstrate that laser cooling on the attractive side of the Feshbach resonance can drive fermions much below the superfluid transition. For the assumed set of experimental parameters the transition takes place at 0.35T(F), and laser cooling can drive the system down to at least 0.085T(F) in a time of a few seconds. Superfluid growth is self-consistently included in simulations.

Fermion superfluids of nonzero orbital angular momentum near resonance

We study the pairing of Fermi gases near the scattering resonance of the l not equal 0 partial wave. Using a model potential which reproduces the actual two-body low energy scattering amplitude, we have obtained an analytic solution of the gap equation. We show that the ground state of l=1 and l=3 superfluids are orbital ferromagnets with pairing wave functions Y11 and Y32, respectively. For l=2, there is a degeneracy between Y22 and a "cyclic state." Dipole energy will orient the angular momentum axis. The gap function can be determined by the angular dependence of the momentum distribution of the fermions.

Number statistics of molecules formed from ultracold atoms

We calculate the number statistics of a single-mode molecular field excited by photo-association or via a Feshbach resonance from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), a normal atomic Fermi gas, and a Fermi system with pair correlations (BCS state). We find that the molecule formation from a BEC leads for short times to a coherent molecular state in the quantum optical sense. Atoms in a normal Fermi gas, on the other hand, result for short times in a molecular field analog of a classical chaotic light source. The BCS situation is intermediate between the two and goes from producing an incoherent to a coherent molecular field with an increasing gap parameter. This distinct signature of the initial atomic state in the resulting molecular field makes single molecule counting into a powerful diagnostic tool.

Fermionic atoms in a three dimensional optical lattice: observing Fermi surfaces, dynamics, and interactions

We have studied interacting and noninteracting quantum degenerate Fermi gases in a three-dimensional optical lattice. We directly image the Fermi surface of the atoms in the lattice by turning off the optical lattice adiabatically. Because of the confining potential, gradual filling of the lattice transforms the system from a normal state into a band insulator. The dynamics of the transition from a band insulator to a normal state is studied, and the time scale is measured to be an order of magnitude larger than the tunneling time in the lattice. Using a Feshbach resonance, we increase the interaction between atoms in two different spin states and dynamically induce a coupling between the lowest energy bands. We observe a shift of this coupling with respect to the Feshbach resonance in free space which is anticipated for strongly confined atoms.

Fractional quantum Hall states of atoms in optical lattices

We describe a method to create fractional quantum Hall states of atoms confined in optical lattices. We show that the dynamics of the atoms in the lattice is analogous to the motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field if an oscillating quadrupole potential is applied together with a periodic modulation of the tunneling between lattice sites. In a suitable parameter regime the ground state in the lattice is of the fractional quantum Hall type, and we show how these states can be reached by melting a Mott-insulator state in a superlattice potential. Finally, we discuss techniques to observe these strongly correlated states.

Probing the excitation spectrum of a fermi gas in the BCS-BEC crossover regime

We measure excitation spectra of an ultracold gas of fermionic (40)K atoms in the BCS-Bose-Einstein-condensation (BEC) crossover regime. The measurements are performed with a novel spectroscopy that employs a small modulation of the B field close to a Feshbach resonance to give rise to a modulation of the interaction strength. With this method we observe both a collective excitation as well as the dissociation of fermionic atom pairs in the strongly interacting regime. The excitation spectra reveal the binding energy or excitation gap for pairs in the crossover region.

Heat Capacity of a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas

We have measured the heat capacity of an optically trapped, strongly interacting Fermi gas of atoms. A precise addition of energy to the gas is followed by single-parameter thermometry, which determines the empirical temperature parameter of the gas cloud. Our measurements reveal a clear transition in the heat capacity. The energy and the spatial profile of the gas are computed using a theory of the crossover from Fermi to Bose superfluids at finite temperatures. The theory calibrates the empirical temperature parameter, yields excellent agreement with the data, and predicts the onset of superfluidity at the observed transition point.

Direct imaging of spatially modulated superfluid phases in atomic fermion systems

It is proposed that the spatially modulated superfluid phase, or the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state could be observed in resonant fermion atomic condensates which are realized recently. We examine optimal experimental setups to achieve it by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation for both idealized one-dimensional and realistic three-dimensional cases. The spontaneous modulation of this superfluid is shown to be directly imaged as the density profiles either by optical absorption or by Stern-Gerlach experiments.

Feshbach-resonant interactions in 40K and 6Li degenerate Fermi gases

We theoretically examine a system of Fermi degenerate atoms coupled to bosonic molecules by a Feshbach resonance, focusing on the superfluid transition to a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate dressed by Cooper pairs of atoms. This problem raises interest because it is unclear at present whether bimodal density distributions observed recently in 40K and 6Li are due to a condensate of bosonic molecules or fermionic atom pairs. As opposed to 40K, we find that any measurable fraction of above-threshold bosonic molecules is necessarily absent for the 6Li system in question, which strongly implicates Cooper pairs as the culprit behind its bimodal distributions.

Density profiles of strongly interacting trapped fermi gases

We study density profiles in trapped fermionic gases, near Feshbach resonances, at all T< or =Tc and in the near Bose-Einstein condensation and unitary regimes. For the latter, we characterize and quantify the generally neglected contribution from noncondensed Cooper pairs. As a consequence of these pairs, our profiles are rather well fit to a Thomas-Fermi (TF) functional form, and equally well fit to experimental data. Our work lends support to the notion that TF fits can be used in an experimental context to obtain information about the temperature.

BCS-BEC crossover in a gas of Fermi atoms with a p-wave feshbach resonance

We investigate unconventional superfluidity in a gas of Fermi atoms with an anisotropic p-wave Feshbach resonance. Including the p-wave Feshbach resonance as well as the associated three kinds of quasimolecules with finite orbital angular momenta Lz=+/-1,0, we calculate the transition temperature of the superfluid phase. As one passes through the p-wave Feshbach resonance, we find the usual BCS-BEC crossover phenomenon. The p-wave BCS state continuously changes into the BEC of bound molecules with L=1. Our calculation includes the effect of fluctuations associated with Cooper pairs and molecules which are not Bose condensed.