Tunneling dynamics of superfluid Fermi gases in an accelerating optical lattice

Abstract

The nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling and the nonlinear Rabi oscillations of superfluid Fermi gases between Bloch bands in an accelerating optical lattice are discussed. Within the hydrodynamic theory and a two-level model, the tunneling probability of superfluid Fermi gases between Bloch bands is obtained. We find that, as the system crosses from the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) side to the BCS side, the tunneling rate is closely related to the particle density: when the density is smaller (larger) than a critical value, the tunneling rate at unitarity is larger (smaller) than that in the BEC limit. This is well explained in terms of an effective interaction and an effective potential. Furthermore, the nonlinear Rabi oscillations of superfluid Fermi gases between the bands are discussed by imposing a periodic modulation on the level bias and the strength of the lattice. Analytical expressions of the critical density for suppressing or enhancing the Rabi oscillations are obtained. It is shown that, as the system crosses from the BEC side to the BCS side, the critical density strongly depends on the modulation parameters (i.e., the modulation amplitude and the modulation frequency). For a fixed density, a high-frequency or low-frequency modulation can suppress or enhance the Rabimore » oscillations both at unitarity and in the BEC limit. For an intermediate modulation frequency, the Rabi oscillations are chaotic along the entire BEC-BCS crossover, especially, on the BCS side. Interestingly, we find that the modulation of the lattice strength only with an intermediate modulation frequency has significant effect on the Rabi oscillations both in the BEC limit and at unitarity; that is, an intermediate-frequency modulation can enhance the Rabi oscillations, especially on the BCS side.« less