arXiv subjects

Xia-Ji Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Xia-Ji Liu.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Equation of state and contact of a strongly interacting Bose gas in the normal state

We theoretically investigate the equation of state and Tan's contact of a non-degenerate three dimensional Bose gas near a broad Feshbach resonance, within the framework of large-$N$ expansion. Our results agree with the path-integral Monte Carlo simulations in the weak-coupling limit and recover the second-order virial expansion predictions at strong interactions and high temperatures. At resonance, we find that the chemical potential and energy are significantly enhanced by the strong repulsion, while the entropy does not change significantly. With increasing temperature, the two-body contact initially increases and then decreases like $T^{-1}$ at large temperature, and therefore exhibits a peak structure at about $4T_{c0}$, where $T_{c0}$ is the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature of an ideal, non-interacting Bose gas. These results may be experimentally examined with a non-degenerate unitary Bose gas, where the three-body recombination rate is substantially reduced. In particular, the non-monotonic temperature dependence of the two-body contact could be inferred from the momentum distribution measurement.

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arXiv2015

Collective mode evidence of high-spin bosonization in a trapped one-dimensional atomic Fermi gas with tunable spin

We calculate the frequency of collective modes of a one-dimensional repulsively interacting Fermi gas with high-spin symmetry confined in harmonic traps at zero temperature. This is a system realizable with fermionic alkaline-earth-metal atoms such as $^{173}$Yb, which displays an exact SU($κ$) spin symmetry with $κ\geqslant2$ and behaves like a spinless interacting Bose gas in the limit of infinite spin components $κ\rightarrow\infty$, namely high-spin bosonization. We solve the homogeneous equation of state of the high-spin Fermi system by using Bethe ansatz technique and obtain the density distribution in harmonic traps based on local density approximation. The frequency of collective modes is calculated by exactly solving the zero-temperature hydrodynamic equation. In the limit of large number of spin-components, we show that the mode frequency of the system approaches to that of a one-dimensional spinless interacting Bose gas, as a result of high-spin bosonization. Our prediction of collective modes is in excellent agreement with a very recent measurement for a Fermi gas of $^{173}$Yb atoms with tunable spin confined in a two-dimensional tight optical lattice.

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arXiv2014

Fermi Gases with Synthetic Spin-Orbit Coupling

We briefly review recent progress on ultracold atomic Fermi gases with different types of synthetic spin-orbit coupling, including the one-dimensional (1D) equal weight Rashba-Dresselhaus and two-dimensional (2D) Rasbha spin-orbit couplings. Theoretically, we show how the single-body, two-body and many-body properties of Fermi gases are dramatically changed by spin-orbit coupling. In particular, the interplay between spin-orbit coupling and interatomic interaction may lead to several long-sought exotic superfluid phases at low temperatures, such as anisotropic superfluid, topological superfluid and inhomogeneous superfluid. Experimentally, only the first type - equal weight combination of Rasbha and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings - has been realized very recently using a two-photon Raman process. We show how to characterize a normal spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gas in both non-interacting and strongly-interacting limits, using particularly momentum-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy. The experimental demonstration of a strongly-interacting spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas opens a promising way to observe various exotic superfluid phases in the near future.

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arXiv2014

Three-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases: Fulde-Ferrell pairing, Majorana fermions, Weyl fermions and gapless topological superfluidity

We theoretically investigate a three-dimensional Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the presence of both out-of-plane and in-plane Zeeman fields. We show that, driven by a sufficiently large Zeeman field, either out-of-plane or in-plane, the superfluid phase of this system exhibits a number of interesting features, including inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell pairing, gapped or gapless topological order and exotic quasi-particle excitations known as Weyl fermions that have linear energy dispersions in momentum space (i.e., massless Dirac fermions). The topological superfluid phase can have either four or two topologically protected Weyl nodes. We present the phase diagrams at both zero and finite temperatures and discuss the possibility of their observation in an atomic Fermi gas with synthetic spin-orbit coupling. In this context, topological superfluid phases with an imperfect Rashba spin-orbit coupling are also studied.

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arXiv2014

First and second sound of a unitary Fermi gas in highly oblate harmonic traps

We theoretically investigate first and second sound modes of a unitary Fermi gas trapped in a highly oblate harmonic trap at finite temperatures. Following the idea by Stringari and co-workers {[}Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{105}, 150402 (2010){]}, we argue that these modes can be described by the simplified two-dimensional two-fluid hydrodynamic equations. Two possible schemes - sound wave propagation and breathing mode excitation - are considered. We calculate the sound wave velocities and discretized sound mode frequencies, as a function of temperature. We find that in both schemes, the coupling between first and second sound modes is large enough to induce significant density fluctuations, suggesting that second sound can be directly observed by measuring \textit{in-situ} density profiles. The frequency of the second sound breathing mode is found to be highly sensitive to the superfluid density.

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arXiv2014

First and second sound of a unitary Fermi gas in highly elongated harmonic traps

Using a variational approach, we present the full solutions of the simplified one-dimensional two-fluid hydrodynamic equations for a unitary Fermi gas trapped in a highly elongated harmonic potential, which is recently derived by Stringari and co-workers {[}Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{105}, 150402 (2010){]}. We calculate the discretized mode frequencies of first and second sound along the weak axial trapping potential, as a function of temperature and the form of superfluid density. We show that the density fluctuations in second sound modes, due to their coupling to first sound modes, are large enough to be measured in current experimental setups such as that exploited by Tey \textit{et al}. at the University of Innsbruck {[}Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{110}, 055303 (2013){]}. Owing to the sensitivity of second sounds on the form of superfluid density, the high precision of the measured second sound frequencies may provide us a promising way to accurately determine the superfluid density of a unitary Fermi gas, which so far remains elusive.

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arXiv2014

Superfluid density and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of a spin-orbit coupled Fulde-Ferrell superfluid

We theoretically investigate the superfluid density and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition of a two-dimensional Rashba spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gas with both in-plane and out-of-plane Zeeman fields. It was recently predicted that, by tuning the two Zeeman fields, the system may exhibit different exotic Fulde-Ferrell (FF) superfluid phases, including the gapped FF, gapless FF, gapless topological FF and gapped topological FF states. Due to the FF paring, we show that the superfluid density (tensor) of the system becomes anisotropic. When an in-plane Zeeman field is applied along the \textit{x}-direction, the tensor component along the \textit{y}-direction $n_{s,yy}$ is generally larger than $n_{s,xx}$ in most parameter space. At zero temperature, there is always a discontinuity jump in $n_{s,xx}$ as the system evolves from a gapped FF into a gapless FF state. With increasing temperature, such a jump is gradually washed out. The critical BKT temperature has been calculated as functions of the spin-orbit coupling strength, interatomic interaction strength, in-plane and out-of-plane Zeeman fields. We predict that the novel FF superfluid phases have a significant critical BKT temperature, typically at the order of $0.1T_{F}$, where $T_{F}$ is the Fermi degenerate temperature. Therefore, their observation is within the reach of current experimental techniques in cold-atom laboratories.

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arXiv2014

A one-dimensional liquid of fermions with tunable spin

Correlations in systems with spin degree of freedom are at the heart of fundamental phenomena, ranging from magnetism to superconductivity. The effects of correlations depend strongly on dimensionality, a striking example being one-dimensional (1D) electronic systems, extensively studied theoretically over the past fifty years. However, the experimental investigation of the role of spin multiplicity in 1D fermions - and especially for more than two spin components - is still lacking. Here we report on the realization of 1D, strongly-correlated liquids of ultracold fermions interacting repulsively within SU(N) symmetry, with a tunable number N of spin components. We observe that static and dynamic properties of the system deviate from those of ideal fermions and, for N>2, from those of a spin-1/2 Luttinger liquid. In the large-N limit, the system exhibits properties of a bosonic spinless liquid. Our results provide a testing ground for many-body theories and may lead to the observation of fundamental 1D effects.

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arXiv2014

Gapless topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity in spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases

Topological superfluids usually refer to a superfluid state which is gapped in the bulk but metallic at the boundary. Here we report that a gapless, topologically non-trivial superfluid with inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell pairing order parameter can emerge in a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas, in the presence of both in-plane and out-of-plane Zeeman fields. The Fulde-Ferrell pairing - induced by the spin-orbit coupling and in-plane Zeeman field - is responsible for this gapless feature. This exotic superfluid has a significant Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition temperature and has robust Majorana edge modes against disorder owing to its topological nature.

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arXiv2014

Spin-orbit-coupled topological Fulde-Ferrell states of fermions in a harmonic trap

Motivated by recent experimental breakthroughs in generating spin-orbit coupling in ultracold Fermi gases using Raman laser beams, we present a systematic study of spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gases confined in a quasi-one-dimensional trap in the presence of an in-plane Zeeman field (which can be realized using a finite two-photon Raman detuning). We find that a topological Fulde-Ferrell state will emerge, featuring finite-momentum Cooper pairing and zero-energy Majorana excitations localized near the edge of the trap based on the self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Genes (BdG) equations. We find analytically the wavefunctions of the Majorana modes. Finally using the time-dependent BdG we show how the finite-momentum pairing field manifests itself in the expansion dynamics of the atomic cloud.

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arXiv2014

Gapless topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity induced by in-plane Zeeman field

Topological superfluids are recently discovered quantum matters that host topologically protected gapless edge states known as Majorana fermions - exotic quantum particles that act as their own anti-particles and obey non-Abelian statistics. Their realizations are believed to lie at the heart of future technologies such as fault-tolerant quantum computation. To date, the most efficient scheme to create topological superfluids and Majorana fermions is based on the Sau-Lutchyn-Tewari-Das Sarma model with a Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling on the }\textbf{\textit{x-y}}\textbf{ plane and a large out-of-plane (perpendicular) Zeeman field along the }\textbf{\textit{z}}\textbf{-direction. Here we propose an alternative setup, where the topological superfluid phase is driven by applying an in-plane Zeeman field. This scheme offers a number of new features, notably Cooper pairings at finite centre-of-mass momentum (i.e., Fulde-Ferrell pairing) and gapless excitations in the bulk. As a result, a novel gapless topological quantum matter with inhomogeneous pairing order parameter appears. It features unidirected Majorana surface states at boundaries, which propagate in the same direction and connect two Weyl nodes in the bulk. We demonstrate the emergence of such an exotic topological matter and the associated Majorana fermions in spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gases and determine its parameter space. The implementation of our scheme in semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures is briefly discussed.

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arXiv2014

First and second sound in a two-dimensional dilute Bose gas across the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition

We theoretically investigate first and second sound of a two-dimensional (2D) atomic Bose gas in harmonic traps by solving Landau's two-fluid hydrodynamic equations. For an isotropic trap, we find that first and second sound modes become degenerate at certain temperatures and exhibit typical avoided crossings in mode frequencies. At these temperatures, second sound has significant density fluctuation due to its hybridization with first sound and has a divergent mode frequency towards the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. For a highly anisotropic trap, we derive the simplified one-dimensional hydrodynamic equations and discuss the sound-wave propagation along the weakly confined direction. Due to the universal jump of the superfluid density inherent to the BKT transition, we show that the first sound velocity exhibits a kink across the transition. Our predictions can be readily examined in current experimental setups for 2D dilute Bose gases.

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arXiv2014

Collective modes of a one-dimensional trapped atomic Bose gas at finite temperatures

We theoretically investigate collective modes of a one-dimensional (1D) interacting Bose gas in harmonic traps at finite temperatures, by using a variational approach and local density approximation. We find that the temperature dependence of collective mode frequencies is notably different in the weakly and strongly interacting regimes. Therefore, the experimental measurement of collective modes could provide a sensitive probe for different quantum phases of a 1D trapped Bose gas, realized by tuning the interatomic interaction strength and temperature. Our prediction on the temperature dependence of the breathing mode frequency is in good qualitative agreement with an earlier experimental measurement for a weakly interacting 1D Bose gas of rubidium-87 atoms in harmonic traps [Moritz et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 250402 (2003)].

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arXiv2013

Fulde-Ferrell pairing instability of a Rashba spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas

We theoretically analyze the pairing instability of a three-dimensional ultracold atomic Fermi gas towards a Fulde-Ferrell superfluid, in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and in-plane Zeeman field. We use the standard Thouless criterion for the onset of superfluidity, with which the effect of pair fluctuations is partially taken into account by approximately using a mean-field chemical potential at zero temperature. This gives rise to an improved prediction of the superfluid transition temperature beyond mean-field, particularly in the strong-coupling unitary limit. We also investigate the pairing instability with increasing Rashba spin-orbit coupling, along the crossover from a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid to a Bose-Einstein condensate of Rashbons (i.e., the tightly bound state of two fermions formed by strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling

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arXiv2013

Probing the critical exponent of superfluid fraction in a strongly interacting Fermi gas

We theoretically investigate the critical behavior of second sound mode in a harmonically trapped ultracold atomic Fermi gas with resonant interactions. Near the superfluid phase transition with critical temperature $T_{c}$, the frequency or the sound velocity of second sound mode depends crucially on the critical exponent $β$ of superfluid fraction. In an isotropic harmonic trap, we predict that the mode frequency diverges like $(1-T/T_{c})^{β-1/2}$ when $β<1/2$. In a highly elongated trap, the speed of second sound reduces by a factor $1/\sqrt{2β+1}$ from that in a homogeneous three-dimensional superfluid. Our prediction could be readily tested by measurements of second sound wave propagation in a setup such as that exploited by Sidorenkov \textit{et al.} {[}Nature \textbf{498}, 78 (2013){]} for resonantly interacting lithium-6 atoms, once the experimental precision is improved.

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arXiv2013

Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity in ultracold Fermi gases with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We theoretically investigate the inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell (FF) superfluidity in a three dimensional atomic Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling near a broad Feshbach resonance. We show that within mean-field theory the FF superfluid state is always more favorable than the standard Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid state when an in-plane Zeeman field is applied. We present a qualitative finite-temperature phase diagram near resonance and argue that the predicted FF superfluid is observable with experimentally attainable temperatures (i.e., $T\sim0.2T_{F}$, where $T_{F}$ is the characteristic Fermi degenerate temperature).

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arXiv2013

Topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid in spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gases

We theoretically predict a new topological matter - topological inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell superfluid - in one-dimensional atomic Fermi gases with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling near s-wave Feshbach resonances. The realization of such a spin-orbit coupled Fermi system has already been demonstrated recently by using a two-photon Raman process and the extra one-dimensional confinement is easy to achieve using a tight two-dimensional optical lattice. The topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid phase is characterized by a nonzero center-of-mass momentum and a non-trivial Berry phase. By tuning the Rabi frequency and the detuning of Raman laser beams, we show that such an exotic topological phase occupies a significant part of parameter space and therefore it could be easily observed experimentally, by using, for example, momentum-resolved and spatially resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy.

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arXiv2013

BCS-BEC crossover at finite temperature in spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases

By adopting a $T$-matrix-based method within the $G_0G$ approximation for the pair susceptibility, we study the effects of the pairing fluctuation on the three-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases at finite temperature. The critical temperatures of the superfluid/normal phase transition are determined for three different types of spin-orbit coupling (SOC): (1) the extreme oblate (EO) or Rashba SOC, (2) the extreme prolate (EP) or equal Rashba-Dresselhaus SOC, and (3) the spherical (S) SOC. For EO- and S-type SOC, the SOC dependence of the critical temperature signals a crossover from BCS to BEC state; at strong SOC limit, the critical temperature recover those of ideal BEC of rashbons. The pairing fluctuation induces a pseudogap in the fermionic excitation spectrum in both superfluid and normal phases. We find that, for EO- and S-type SOC, even at weak coupling, sufficiently strong SOC can induce sizable pseudogap. Our research suggests that the spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases may open new means to the study of the pseudogap formation in fermionic systems.

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