arXiv subjects

C. A. R. Sa de Melo

Publications and source records attributed to C. A. R. Sa de Melo.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

Vortices, antivortices and superfluid shells separating Mott-insulating regions

Atomic or molecular bosons in harmonically confined optical lattices exhibit a wedding cake structure consisting of insulating (Mott) shells. It is shown that superfluid regions emerge between Mott shells as a result of fluctuations due to finite hopping. It is found that the order parameter equation in the superfluid region is not of the Gross-Pitaeviskii type except near the insulator to superfluid boundaries. The excitation spectra in the Mott and superfluid regions are obtained, and it is shown that the superfluid shells posses low energy sound modes with spatially dependent sound velocity described by a local index of refraction directly related to the local superfluid density. Lastly, the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and vortex-antivortex pairs are discussed in thin (wide) superfluid shells (rings) limited by three (two) dimensional Mott regions.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Ultracold heteronuclear molecules and ferroelectric superfluids

We analyze the possibility of a ferroelectric transition in heteronuclear molecules consisting of Bose-Bose, Bose-Fermi or Fermi-Fermi atom pairs. This transition is characterized by the appearance of a spontaneous electric polarization below a critical temperature. We discuss the existence of a ferroelectric Fermi liquid phase for Fermi molecules and the existence of a ferroelectric superfluid phase for Bose molecules characterized by the coexistence of ferroelectric and superfluid orders. Lastly, we propose an experiment to detect ferroelectric correlations through the observation of coherent dipole radiation pulses during time of flight.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Asymmetric two-component Fermi gas with unequal masses

We analyze the zero temperature phase diagram for an asymmetric two-component Fermi gas as a function of mass anisotropy and population imbalance. We identify regions corresponding to normal, or uniform/non-uniform superfluid phases, and discuss topological quantum phase transitions in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS), unitarity and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limits. Lastly, we derive the zero temperature low frequency and long wavelength collective excitation spectrum, and recover the Bogoliubov relation for weakly interacting dilute bosons in the BEC limit.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Two-species fermion mixtures with population imbalance

We analyze the phase diagram of uniform superfluidity for two-species fermion mixtures from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limit as a function of the scattering parameter and population imbalance. We find at zero temperature that the phase diagram of population imbalance versus scattering parameter is asymmetric for unequal masses, having a larger stability region for uniform superfluidity when the lighter fermions are in excess. In addition, we find topological quantum phase transitions associated with the disappearance or appearance of momentum space regions of zero quasiparticle energies. Lastly, near the critical temperature, we derive the Ginzburg-Landau equation, and show that it describes a dilute mixture of composite bosons and unpaired fermions in the BEC limit.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Are Vortex Quasi-Crystals New Phases of Vortex Matter?

There seems to be a one to one correspondence between the phases of atomic and molecular matter (AMOM) and vortex matter (VM) in superfluids and superconductors. Crystals, liquids and glasses have been experimentally observed in both AMOM and VM. However, quasi-crystals also exist in AMOM, thus a new phase of vortex matter is proposed here: the vortex quasi-crystal. It is argued that vortex quasi-crystals are stabilized due to imposed quasi-periodic potentials in large samples or due to boundary and surface energy effects for samples of special shapes and sizes. For finite size samples, it is proposed that a phase transition between a vortex crystal and a vortex quasi-crystal occurs as a function of magnetic field and temperature as the sample size is reduced.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Time evolution and matter wave interference in Fermi condensates

We discuss matter wave interference of Fermi condensates in strongly coupled s-wave and p-wave channels and the time evolution of a single cloud upon release from trap. In s-wave systems, where the order parameter is a complex scalar, we find that the interference patterns depend on the relative phase of the order parameters of the condensates. In p-wave systems involving the mixture of two-hyperfine states, we show that the interference pattern exhibits a polarization effect depending on the relative orientation of the two vector order parameters. However, in p-wave systems involving a single hyperfine state, we show that this angular effect reduces to an overall phase difference between the two interfering clouds, similar to s-wave. Lastly, we also point out that p-wave Fermi condensates exhibit an anisotropic expansion, reflecting the spatial anisotropy of the underlying interaction between fermions and the orbital nature of the vector order parameter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Coexistence of Triplet Superconductivity and Spin Density Wave

We discuss the possibility of coexistence of spin density wave (antiferromagnetism) and triplet superconductivity as a particular example of a broad class of systems where the interplay of magnetism and superconductivity is important. We focus on the case of quasi-one-dimensional metals, where it is kown that antiferromagnetism is in close proximity to triplet superconductivity in the pressure versus temperature phase diagram. Over a range of pressures, we propose an intermediate non-uniform phase consisting of antiferromagnetic and triplet superconducting orders. In the coexistence region, we propose a flop transition in the spin density wave order parameter vector, which affects the nature of the superconducting state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Vortex-Antivortex Lattice in Ultra-Cold Fermi Gases

We discuss ultra-cold Fermi gases in two dimensions, which could be realized in a strongly confining one-dimensional optical lattice. We obtain the temperature versus effective interaction phase diagram for an s-wave superfluid and show that, below a certain critical temperature T_c, spontaneous vortex-antivortex pairs appear for all coupling strengths. In addition, we show that the evolution from weak to strong coupling is smooth, and that the system forms a square vortex-antivortex lattice at a lower critical temperature T_M.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Quantum Phase Transition in the BCS-to-BEC Evolution of p-wave Fermi Gases

We discuss the possibility of a quantum phase transition in ultra-cold spin-polarized Fermi gases which exhibit a p-wave Feshbach resonance. We show that when fermionic atoms form a condensate that can be externally tuned between the BCS and BEC limits, the zero temperature compressibility and the spin susceptibility of the fermionic gas are non-analytic functions of the two-body bound state energy. This non-analyticity is due to a massive rearrangement of the momentum distribution in the ground state of the system. Furthermore, we show that the low temperature superfluid density is also non-analytic, and exhibits a dramatic change in behavior when the critical value of the bound state energy is crossed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

BCS-BEC crossover of collective excitations in two-band superfluids

We use the functional integral approach to study low energy collective excitations in a continuum model of neutral two-band superfluids at T=0 for all couplings with a separable pairing interaction. In the long wavelength and low frequency limit, we recover Leggett's analytical results in weak coupling (BCS) for s-wave pairing, and further obtain analytical results in strong coupling (BEC) for both two and three dimensional systems. We also analyse numerically the behavior of the out-of-phase {\it exciton} (finite frequency) mode and the in-phase {\it phonon} (Goldstone) mode from weak to strong coupling limits, including the crossover region. In principle, the evolution of Goldstone and finite frequency modes from weak to strong coupling may be accessible experimentally in the superfluid phase of neutral Fermi atomic gases, and could serve as a test of the validity of the theoretical analysis and approximations proposed here.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Coexistence of Spin Density Wave and Triplet Superconductivity

We discuss the possibility of coexistence of spin density wave (antiferromagnetism) and triplet superconductivity as a particular example of a broad class of systems where the interplay of magnetism and superconductivity is important. We focus on the case of quasi-one-dimensional metals, where it is known experimentally that antiferromagnetism is in close proximity to triplet superconductivity in the temperature versus pressure phase diagram. Over a narrow range of pressures, we propose an intermediate non-uniform phase consisting of alternating antiferromagnetic and triplet superconducting stripes. Within the non-uniform phase there are also changes between two and three dimensional behavior.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Coexistence of Antiferromagnetism and Triplet Superconductivity

The authors discuss the possibility of coexistence of antiferromagnetism and triplet superconductivity as a particular example of a broad class of systems where the interplay of magnetism and superconductivity is important. This paper focuses on the case of quasi-one-dimensional metals, where it is known experimentally that antiferromagnetism is in close proximity to triplet superconductivity in the temperature versus pressure phase diagram. Over a narrow range of pressures, the authors propose an intermediate non-uniform phase consisting of alternating insulating antiferromagnetic and triplet superonducting stripes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Uniform spin susceptibility tensor and quasiparticle density of states in organic quasi-one-dimensional superconductors

We perform calculations relating the order parameter symmetry of organic quasi-one-dimensional superconductors to the bulk quasiparticle density of states and the bulk uniform spin susceptibility tensor at finite temperatures. Current experimental results suggest that some organic quasi-one-dimensional superconductors may exhibit triplet pairing symmetry. The purpose of our analysis is to attempt to narrow down the number of possibilities for the symmetry of the order parameter based on the experimental evidence.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Phase Fluctuations and Vortex Lattice Melting in Triplet Quasi-One-Dimensional Superconductors at High Magnetic Fields

Assuming that the order parameter corresponds to an equal spin triplet pairing symmetry state, we calculate the effect of phase fluctuations in quasi-one-dimensional superconductors at high magnetic fields applied along the y (b') axis. We show that phase fluctuations can destroy the theoretically predicted triplet reentrant superconducting state, and that they are responsible for melting the magnetic field induced Josephson vortex lattice above a magnetic field dependent melting temperature Tm.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1998

From BCS to BEC Superconductivity: Spectroscopic Consequences

The evolution from BCS to BEC superconductivity in the s-wave and d-wave channels is analyzed at zero temperature for a two-dimensional superconductor. Spectroscopic quantities for s-wave and d-wave systems present fundamental differences when particle density and attraction strength are varied. A detailed analysis of single quasiparticle properties (excitation spectrum, momentum distribution, spectral function and density of states) indicates that the evolution of these spectroscopic quantities in the d-wave case is not smooth, unlike the situation encountered for the s-wave system.

cond-mat.supr-con↗