Spin-polarized Fermi Gas Research Articles

Collective excitations in trapped boson-fermion mixtures: From demixing to collapse

We calculate the spectrum of low-lying collective excitations in a gaseous cloud formed by a Bose-Einstein condensate and a spin-polarized Fermi gas over a range of the boson-fermion coupling strength extending from strongly repulsive to strongly attractive. Increasing boson-fermion repulsions drives the system towards spatial separation of its components (``demixing''), whereas boson-fermion attractions drives it towards implosion (``collapse''). The dynamics of the system is treated in the experimentally relevant collisionless regime by means of a random-phase approximation, and the behavior of a mesoscopic cloud under isotropic harmonic confinement is contrasted with that of a macroscopic mixture at given average particle densities. In the latter case the locations of both the demixing and the collapse phase transitions are sharply defined by the same stability condition, which is determined by the softening of an eigenmode of either fermionic or bosonic origin. In contrast, the transitions to either demixing or collapse in a mesoscopic cloud at fixed confinement and particle numbers are spread out over a range of boson-fermion coupling strength, and some initial decrease of the frequencies of a set of collective modes is followed by hardening, as evidenced by blue shifts of most eigenmodes. The spectral hardening can serve as a signal of the impending transition and is most evident when the number of bosons in the cloud is relatively large. We propose physical interpretations for these dynamical behaviors with the help of suitably defined partial compressibilities for the gaseous cloud under confinement.

Collective excitations of a trapped boson-fermion mixture across demixing

We calculate the spectrum of low-lying collective excitations in a mesoscopic cloud formed by a Bose-Einstein condensate and a spin-polarized Fermi gas as a function of the boson-fermion repulsions. The cloud is under isotropic harmonic confinement and its dynamics is treated in the collisional regime by using the equations of generalized hydrodynamics with inclusion of surface effects. For large numbers of bosons we find that, as the cloud moves towards spatial separation (demixing) with increasing boson-fermion coupling, the frequencies of a set of collective modes show a softening followed by a sharp upturn. This behavior permits a clear identification of the quantum phase transition. We propose a physical interpretation for the dynamical transition point in a confined mixture, leading to a simple analytical expression for its location.

Collective dynamics of fermion clouds in cigar-shaped traps

The propagation of zero sound in a spin-polarized Fermi gas under harmonic confinement is studied as a function of the mean-field interactions with a second Fermi gas. A local-density treatment is compared with the numerical solution of the Vlasov–Landau equations for the propagation of density distortions in a trapped two-component Fermi gas at temperature T=0.2 T F . The response of the gas to the sudden creation of a sharp hole at its centre is also studied numerically.

Collective Excitations of a One-Dimensional Fermi Gas Under Harmonic Confinement

We study the spectrum of collective excitations of a spin-polarized Fermi gas confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap at zero temperature. In the collisionless regime we evaluate exactly the dynamic structure factor, while in the collisional regime we solve analytically the linearized equations of hydrodynamics in the Thomas-Fermi approximation. We also verify the validity of the Thomas-Fermi theory by solving numerically a time-dependent nonlinear Schroedinger equation with a fifth-order interaction term. We find that in both the collisionless and the collisional regime the excitation frequencies of the Fermi gas are multiples of the trap frequency, analogously to the case of the one-dimensional homogeneous Fermi fluid where the velocities of zero and first sound coincide. Due to boson-fermion dynamical mapping our results for the spectrum apply as well to a one-dimensional Bose gas with hard-core point-like interactions (“Tonks gas”).

Hydrodynamic excitations in a spin-polarized Fermi gas under harmonic confinement in one dimension

We consider a time-dependent nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation in one dimension (1D) with a fifth-order interaction term and external harmonic confinement, as a model for both (i) a Bose gas with hard-core contact interactions in the local-density approximation, and (ii) a spin-polarized Fermi gas in the collisional regime. We evaluate analytically in the Thomas-Fermi limit the density fluctuation profiles and the collective excitation frequencies, and compare the results for the low-lying modes with those obtained from numerical solution of the Schr\"odinger equation. We find that the excitation frequencies are multiples of the harmonic-trap frequency even in the strong-coupling Thomas-Fermi regime. This result shows that the hydrodynamic and the collisionless collective spectra coincide in the harmonically confined 1D Fermi gas, as they do for sound waves in its homogeneous analog. It also shows that in this case the local-density theory reproduces the exact collective spectrum of the hard-core Bose gas under harmonic confinement.

Fermi Gas in Harmonic Oscillator Potentials

Assuming the validity of grand canonical statistics, we study the properties of a spin polarized Fermi gas in harmonic traps. Universal forms of Fermi temperature TF, internal energy U and the specific heat per particle of the trapped Fermi gas are calculated as a function of particle number, and the results are compared with those of infinite number particles.

Trapped Fermi gases

We study the properties of a spin-polarized Fermi gas in a harmonic trap, using the semiclassical (Thomas-Fermi) approximation. Universal forms for the spatial and momentum distributions are calculated, and the results compared with the corresponding properties of a dilute Bose gas.

Degeneracy effects in the spin dynamics of spin-polarized Fermi gases

The spin dynamics of spin-polarized Fermi gases with arbitrary degrees of degeneracy is investigated. The spin-wave spectrum, phenomenological diffusion coefficients and the macroscopic equation of motion for the magnetic moment are derived. The degeneracy of the gas leads to a considerable anisotropy of the equations of motion.