Two-component repulsive atomic Fermi gases in a thin spherical shell

Abstract

We present possible ground-state structures of two-component atomic Fermi gases with repulsive interactions in a thin spherical shell geometry by implementing a self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation. The system exhibits a miscible-immiscible transition from a homogeneous mixture to two-chunk phase separation as the interaction strength crosses a critical value. While the critical value is relatively insensitive to population imbalance for equal-mass mixtures, it decreases with the mass ratio when mass-imbalance is present. The interaction may be tuned by the two-body scattering length or the radius of the sphere, thereby allowing the system to cross the transition by varying different parameters. When the atoms on the sphere are rotating, three-chunk sandwich structures emerge in mass-imbalanced mixtures as a consequence of maximal angular momentum along the rotation axis. Some indications of geometric effects and possible experimental implications are also discussed.