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ULTRACOLD QUANTUM GASES

Zhang, Zixu (2012) ULTRACOLD QUANTUM GASES. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

In this thesis, we discuss ultracold quantum gases both in continuum and optical lattices. For the continuum Fermi gases in BCS-BEC crossover, we present an effective field theory study on the recently discovered puzzling damping phenomena on the BCS side of the crossover. We find that in contrast to the previous proposed pair-breaking mechanism of damping, the damping process is due to the interaction between superfluid phonons and thermally excited fermionic quasi particles. Results from our effective field theory are compared quantitatively with experiments, showing a good agreement. For the ultracold fermionic atoms in optical
lattices, we propose two novel quantum phases. Firstly, we show that a novel superconducting pairing occurs for spin-imbalanced Fermi gases with the spin up and down Fermi levels lying within the px- and s- orbital bands of a quasi-one-dimensional optical lattice. The pairs condense at a finite momentum equal to the sum of the two Fermi momenta of spin up and down fermions, and form a p-orbital condensate. The phase diagram shows that the p-orbital pair condensate occurs in a wide range of fillings. Secondly, we study instabilities of single-species fermionic atoms in the p-orbital bands in two-dimensional square optical
lattices. From the nearly-perfect nesting Fermi surfaces, charge density wave and orbital density wave orderings with stripe or checkerboard patterns are found for attractive and
repulsive interactions, respectively. The superconducting phase, usually expected of attractively interacting fermions, is strongly suppressed. We also use field theory to analyze the possible liquid crystal phases in our system. For bosons, we study ultracold bosonic atoms loaded in a one-dimensional optical lattice of two-fold p-orbital degeneracy at each site, and find an anti-ferro-orbital, a homogeneous px Mott insulator phase and two kinds of superfluid phases distinguished by the orbital ordering.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Zhang, Zixuziz1@pitt.eduZIZ1
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairLiu, W. Vincentwvliu@pitt.eduWVLIU
Committee MemberCoalson, Robcoalson@pitt.eduCOALSON
Committee MemberDutt, Gurudevgdutt@pitt.eduGDUTT
Committee MemberJasnow, Davidjasnow@pitt.eduJASNOW
Committee MemberLeibovich, Adamakl2@pitt.eduAKL2
Date: 9 October 2012
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 4 April 2012
Approval Date: 9 October 2012
Submission Date: 28 May 2012
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 144
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Physics
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: optical lattice, BCS-BEC crossover, many-body physics, ultracold atoms, strongly correlated system, quantum gas
Date Deposited: 09 Oct 2012 14:41
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:58
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12076

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