Finite-temperature phase diagram of a spin-polarized ultracold Fermi gas in a highly elongated harmonic trap

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Title: Finite-temperature phase diagram of a spin-polarized ultracold Fermi gas in a highly elongated harmonic trap
Author(s): Liu, Xia-Ji; Hu, Hui; Drummond, P. D.
Abstract: We investigate the finite-temperature properties of an ultracold atomic Fermi gas with spin population imbalance in a highly elongated harmonic trap. Previous studies at zero temperature showed that the gas stays in an exotic spatially inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superfluid state at the trap center; while moving to the edge, the system changes into either a nonpolarized Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid (P< Pc) or a fully polarized normal gas (P> Pc), depending on the smallness of the spin polarization P, relative to a critical value Pc. In this work, we show how these two phase-separation phases evolve with increasing temperature, and thereby construct a finite-temperature phase diagram. For typical interactions, we find that the exotic FFLO phase survives below one-tenth of Fermi degeneracy temperature, which seems to be accessible in the current experiment. The density profile, equation of state, and specific heat of the polarized system have been calculated and discussed in detail. Our results are useful for the ongoing experiment at Rice University on the search for FFLO states in quasi-one-dimensional polarized Fermi gases.
Publication type: Journal article
Source: Physical Review A, Vol. 78, no. 2 (2008), article no. 023601
Publication year: 2008
FOR Code(s): 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics; 0204 Condensed Matter Physics; 0205 Optical Physics
Keyword(s): Atomic Fermi gases; Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid; Critical values; Degeneracy temperature; Density profiles; Electron gas; Equation of state; Equations of state; Experiments; Fermi gases; Fermions; FFLO states; Finite temperatures; Fulde-Ferrell; Fully polarized; Gases; Harmonic trapping; Ketones; Larkin-Ovchinnikov; Normal gas; Phase diagrams; Phase separation; Quasi-one dimensional; Separation; Spatially inhomogeneous; Spin dynamics; Spin polarisations; Spin population; Superfluid helium; Superfluid states; Trap centers; Two phase; Zero temperatures
Publisher: American Physical Society
ISSN: 1050-2947
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.78.023601
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