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Roberto B. Diener

Publications and source records attributed to Roberto B. Diener.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

BCS-BEC crossover with unequal mass fermions

We investigate the crossover from BCS pairing to molecular BEC in an atomic gas with two fermion species with masses $m_\up \ne m_\dn$ tuned through a Feshbach resonance. We present results for the T=0 equation of state as a function of the scattering length including the effects of Gaussian fluctuations about the mean field ground state. We compute the ground state energy as a function of $m_\up/m_\dn$ at unitarity and find excellent agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo result for $m_\up/m_\dn = 6.67$ for a $^{40}$K-$^6$Li mixture. We show that the dimer scattering length in the BEC limit as a function of $m_\up/m_\dn$ compares well with exact four-body results of Petrov {\it et al}. We also derive the condition for trapping frequencies to obtain an unpolarized gas in a harmonic trap.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Quantum Fluctuations in the Superfluid State of the BCS-BEC Crossover

We determine the effects of quantum fluctuations about the T=0 mean field solution of the BCS-BEC crossover in a dilute Fermi gas using the functional integral method. These fluctuations are described in terms of the zero point motion of collective modes and the virtual scattering of gapped quasiparticles. We calculate their effects on various measurable properties, including chemical potential, ground state energy, the gap, the speed of sound and the Landau critical velocity. At unitarity, we find excellent agreement with quantum Monte Carlo and experimental results. In the BCS limit, we show analytically that we obtain Fermi liquid interaction corrections to thermodynamics including the Hartree shift. In the BEC limit, we show that the theory leads to an approximate description of the reduction of the scattering length for bosonic molecules and also obtain quantum depletion of the Lee-Yang form. At the end of the paper, we describe a method to include feedback of quantum fluctuations into the gap equation, and discuss the problems of self-consistent calculations in satisfying Goldstone's theorem and obtaining ultraviolet finite results at unitarity.

cond-mat.other

Criterion for bosonic superfluidity in an optical lattice

We show that the current method of determining superfluidity in optical lattices based on a visibly sharp bosonic momentum distribution $n({\bf k})$ can be misleading, for even a normal Bose gas can have a similarly sharp $n({\bf k})$. We show that superfluidity in a homogeneous system can be detected from the so-called visibility $(v)$ of $n({\bf k})$ $-$ that $v$ must be 1 within $O(N^{-2/3})$, where $N$ is the number of bosons. We also show that the T=0 visibility of trapped lattice bosons is far higher than what is obtained in some current experiments, suggesting strong temperature effects and that these states can be normal. These normal states allow one to explore the physics in the quantum critical region.

cond-mat.other

Breakdown of the Thomas Fermi approximation for polarized Fermi gases

We use Bogoliubov de-Gennes theory to show that the commonly used Thomas-Fermi approximation (TFA) can fail in describing polarized unitary gases in anisotropic harmonic traps. We find a magnetized superfluid region inside the trap, with order parameter oscillations, even though there is no such stable bulk phase. This leads to magnetization profiles that deviate from contours of constant potential energy. We determine how this violation scales with trap anisotropy and number of particles, and show that we are able to account for important differences between the MIT and Rice experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con

Quantum Spin Dynamics of Spin-1 Bose Gas

We show that the quantum evolution of a spin-1 Bose gas with nearly all bosons initially in the $F_z = 0$ state has a "quantum carpet" {\em spin-time} structure with self-similar properties. The system continuously evolves into "multi-peaked" Schrödinger cat like states, returning occasionally to coherent structures, which leads to large number fluctuations (as seen in recent experiments). The self similar behavior allows one to reveal the quantum evolution as a set of peaks in the number probability distribution of a spin component at times {\em much shorter} than the quantum revival time. We also show that these features survive small number fluctuations among spin components up to a few percent.

cond-mat.other

$^{52}$Cr Spinor Condensate$ -- $ A Biaxial or Uniaxial Spin Nematic

We show that the newly discovered $^{52}$Cr Bose condensate in zero magnetic field can be a spin nematic of the following kind: A "maximum" polar state, a "co-linear" polar state, or a biaxial nematic ferromagnetic state. We also present the phase diagram with a magnetic field in the interaction subspace containing the Chromium condensate. It contains many uniaxial and biaxial spin nematic phases, which often but not always break time reversal symmetry, and can exist with or without spontaneous magnetization.

cond-mat.other

Fermions in Optical Lattices across Feshbach Resonance

We point out that the recent experiments at ETH \cite{Esslinger} on fermions in optical lattices, where a band insulator evolves continuously into states occupying many bands as the system is swept adiabatically across Feshbach resonance, have implications on a wide range of fundamental issues in condensed matter. We derive the effective Hamiltonian of these systems, obtain expressions for their energies and band populations, and point out the increasing quantum entanglement of the ground state during the adiabatic sweep. Our results also explains why only specific regions in $k$-space can be populated after the sweep as found in ref. \cite{Esslinger}.

cond-mat.other

Fermion Superfluids of Non-Zero Orbital Angular Momentum near Resonance

We study the pairing of Fermi gases near the scattering resonance of the $\ell\neq 0$ 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 $\ell=1$ and $\ell=3$ superfluid are orbital ferromagnets with pairing wavefunctions $Y_{11}$ and $Y_{32}$ respectively. For $\ell=2$, there is a degeneracy between $Y_{22}$ 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.

cond-mat.other

The Condition for Universality at Resonance and Direct Measurement of Pair Wavefunctions Using rf Spectroscopy

We show that when the Fermi energy of a Fermi gas is much smaller than the intrinsic energy width of a Fashbach resonance, the system behaves like a Fermi gas interacting with contact potential. This in turn implies universality at resonance, and large fermionic pairs in the strongly interacting regime. The recent experiments of JILA (PRL. 92, 040403 (2004)) and MIT (PRL. 92, 120403 (2004)) turn out to be deep inside this universal regime, which explains the perfect fit of these experiments by the BEC-BCS crossover theory with contact potential (cond-mat/0404517). We also show that rf spectrocopy can be used to map out the pair wavefunction directly.

cond-mat.other

Projecting Fermion Pair Condensates into Molecular Condensates

We offer strong evidence that the recent observations by M. Greiner, C. Regal, and D. Jin and by MIT group are signatures of a fermion superfluid in the strongly interacting regime made up of large fermion pairs. Our conclusions are based on calculations using crossover theory for different potentials including those with the characteristics of two-channel models. Our results demonstrate clearly universality near resonance. The $T_{c}$ predicted by crossover theory is a perfect match with the observed boundary of vanishing condensate fraction with no adjustable parameters.

cond-mat.supr-con

Dynamical generation of two-dimensional matter-wave discrete solitons

We suggest a method to experimentally obtain two-dimensional matter-wave discrete solitons with a {\it self-repulsive} BEC in optical lattices. At the edge of the Brillouin zone, a wave packet effective mass is negative which could be treated as inversion of the nonlinearity sign. Above critical nonlinearity this makes the wave packets collapse partially into localized modes with a chemical potential located in the gap between the first and the second bands. This critical nonlinearity is also associated with the smallest nonlinearity for which the discrete solitons are possible in the gap. Extensive numerical simulations for square and asymmetric honeycomb lattices in continuous model illustrate every stage of the process.

cond-mat.soft

Spin-orbit coupling and Berry phase with ultracold atoms in 2D optical lattices

We show how spin-orbit coupling and Berry phase can appear in two-dimensional optical lattices by coupling atoms' internal degrees of freedom to radiation. The Rashba Hamiltonian, a standard description of spin-orbit coupling for two-dimensional electrons, is obtained for the atoms under certain circumstances. We discuss the possibility of observing associated phenomena, such as the anomalous Hall and spin Hall effects, with cold atoms in optical lattices.

cond-mat.soft

Intrinsic self-rotation of BEC Bloch wave packets

The semiclassical theory of Bloch wave packet dynamics predicts a self-rotation angular momentum in asymmetric periodic potentials, which has never been observed. We show how this is manifested in Bose-Einstein condensed atoms in optical lattices. Displacing the wave packet to a corner of the Brillouin zone we obtain a current distribution with a non-quantized angular momentum, independent of the size of the distribution. A weak interatomic interaction does not modify the results, affecting only the rate of spreading in the lattice. A strong repulsive interaction results in a collapse of the wavefunction into matter-wave lattice solitons.

cond-mat

Entanglement generation and multiparticle interferometry with neutral atoms

We study the preparation and manipulation of states involving a small number of interacting particles. By controlling the splitting and fusing of potential wells, we show how to interconvert Mott-insulator-like and trapped BEC-like states. We also discuss the generation of "Schrödinger cat" states by splitting a microtrap and taking into practical consideration the asymmetry between the resulting wells. These schemes can be used to perform multiparticle interferometry with neutral atoms, where interference effects can be observed only when all the participating particles are measured.

quant-ph

A Quantum Tweezer for Atoms

We propose a quantum tweezer for extracting a desired number of neutral atoms from a reservoir. A trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is used as the reservoir, taking advantage of its coherent nature, which can guarantee a constant outcome. The tweezer is an attractive quantum dot, which may be generated by red-detuned laser light. By moving with certain speeds, the dot can extract a desired number of atoms from the BEC through Landau-Zener tunneling. The feasibility of our quantum tweezer is demonstrated through realistic and extensive model calculations.

cond-mat.soft

Quantum Step Heights in Hysteresis Loops of Molecular Magnets

We present an analytical theory on the heights of the quantum steps observed in the hysteresis loops of molecular magnets. By considering the dipolar interaction between molecular spins, our theory successfully yields the step heights measured in experiments, and reveals a scaling law for the dependence of the heights on the sweeping rates hidden in the experiment data on Fe$_8$ and Mn$_4$. With this theory, we show how to accurately determine the tunnel splitting of a single molecular spin from the step heights.

cond-mat.soft