BCS-BEC crossover in a random external potential

We investigate the ground state properties of a disordered superfluid Fermi gas across the BCS-BEC (Bose-Einstein condensate) crossover. We show that, for weak disorder, both the depletion of the condensate fraction of pairs and the normal fluid density exhibit a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the interaction parameter 1/k{F}a, reaching their minimum value near unitarity. We find that, moving away from the weak-coupling BCS regime, Anderson's theorem ceases to apply and the superfluid order parameter is more and more affected by the random potential.     

Quantum coherence in a superfluid Josephson junction

We report a new kind of experiment in which we take an array of nanoscale apertures that form a superfluid (4)He Josephson junction and apply quantum phase gradients directly along the array. We observe collective coherent behaviors from aperture elements, leading to quantum interference. Connections to superconducting and Bose-Einstein condensate Josephson junctions as well as phase coherence among the superfluid aperture array are discussed.     

Spin 1/2 fermions in the unitary regime: a superfluid of a new type

We study, in a fully nonperturbative calculation, a dilute system of spin 1/2 interacting fermions, characterized by an infinite scattering length at finite temperatures. Various thermodynamic properties and the condensate fraction are calculated and we also determine the critical temperature for the superfluid-normal phase transition in this regime. The thermodynamic behavior appears as a rather surprising and unexpected mélange of fermionic and bosonic features. The thermal response of a spin 1/2 fermion at the BCS-BEC crossover should be classified as that of a new type of superfluid.     

Vortices, tunneling, and deconfinement in bilayer quantum Hall excitonic superfluid

The physics of vortices, instantons, and deconfinement is studied for layered superfluids in connection to bilayer quantum Hall systems at filling fraction nu = 1. We develop an effective gauge theory taking into account both vortices and instantons induced by interlayer tunneling. The renormalization group flow of the gauge charge and the instanton fugacity shows that the coupling of the gauge field to vortex matter produces a continuous transition between the confining phase of free instantons and condensed vortices and a deconfined gapless superfluid where magnetic charges are bound into dipoles. The interlayer tunneling conductance and the layer-imbalance induced inhomogeneous exciton condensate are discussed in connection to experiments.     

Superfluidity versus disorder in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation

We study the discrete nonlinear Schr?dinger equation (DNLS) in an annular geometry with on-site defects. The dynamics of a traveling plane-wave maps onto an effective nonrigid pendulum Hamiltonian. The different regimes include the complete reflection and refocusing of the initial wave, solitonic structures, and a superfluid state. In the superfluid regime, which occurs above a critical value of nonlinearity, a plane wave travels coherently through the randomly distributed defects. This superfluidity criterion for the DNLS is analogous to (yet very different from) the Landau superfluidity criteria in translationally invariant systems. Experimental implications for the physics of Bose-Einstein condensate gases trapped in optical potentials and of arrays of optical fibers are discussed.     

非晶力学流变的自组织临界行为

非晶材料是由液体快冷冻结而成的结构无序的亚稳态固体.在受力条件下,非晶材料表现出独特和复杂的流变行为,具有跨尺度的高度时空不均匀特征,并在一定条件下表现出自组织临界行为,和自然界以及物理系统中许多复杂体系的动力学行为相似.本文结合作者近年来在非晶合金流变行为方面的研究结果,对非晶材料流变的研究进展和物理机制的认识进行介绍,包括非晶材料流变的跨尺度特征、表征和微观结构机制,以及近年来发现的非晶力学流变的自组织临界行为、物理机制等.最后,对非晶材料流变行为研究中亟需解决的问题进行了总结和展望.     

Fermion dynamical symmetry and strongly-correlated electrons: A comprehensive model of high-temperature superconductivity

We review application of the SU(4) model of strongly-correlated electrons to cuprate and iron-based superconductors. A minimal self-consistent generalization of BCS theory to incorporate antiferromagnetism on an equal footing with pairing and strong Coulomb repulsion is found to account systematically for the major features of high-temperature superconductivity, with microscopic details of the parent compounds entering only parametrically. This provides a systematic procedure to separate essential from peripheral, suggesting that many features exhibited by the high-T_c data set are of interest in their own right but are not central to the superconducting mechanism. More generally, we propose that the surprisingly broad range of conventional and unconventional superconducting and superfluid behavior observed across many fields of physics results from the systematic appearance of similar algebraic structures for the emergent effective Hamiltonians, even though the microscopic Hamiltonians of the corresponding parent states may differ radically from each other.     

Direct observation of irrotational flow and evidence of superfluidity in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

We have observed the expansion of vortex-free, rotating Bose condensates after their sudden release from a slowly rotating anisotropic trap. Conservation of angular momentum, combined with the constraint of irrotational flow, cause the rotating condensate to expand in a distinctively different way to one released from a static (nonrotating) trap. This difference provides clear experimental evidence of the purely irrotational velocity field associated with a superfluid. We observed this behavior in absorption images taken along the rotation axis.     

The Problem of Interpretation of Modern Physics

Since the advent of Modern Physics in 1905, we observe an increasing activity of “interpreting” the new theories. We mention here the theories of Special Relativity, General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. However, similar activities for the theories of Classical Physics were not known. We ask for the reasons for the different ways to treat classical physics and modern physics. The answer, that we provide here is very surprising: the different treatments are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the theories of classical physics.     

Macroscopic quantum phenomena in superfluids and superconductors

In this paper I will discuss the common macroscopic quantum phenomena in the three superfluid systems known in condensed matter, the superconducting state of a metal, the superfluid phase of liquid⁴He, and the superfluid phases of liquid³He. The discussed phenomena will be persistent currents and their decay, critical velocities and critical magnetic fields, quantization of magnetic flux and of circulation, the two-dimensional flux and vortex lattices, and eventually the Josephson effects.Invited paper at the International Conference on Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena, Smolenice Castle, Czechoslovakia, September 18–22, 1989.     

Casimir-like force arising from quantum fluctuations in a slowly moving dilute Bose-Einstein condensate

We calculate a force due to zero-temperature quantum fluctuations on a stationary object in a moving superfluid flow. We model the object by a localized potential varying only in the flow direction and model the flow by a three-dimensional weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate at zero temperature. We show that this force exists for any arbitrarily small flow velocity and discuss the implications for the stability of superfluid flow.     

Advances on topological materials

We review application of the SU(4) model of strongly-correlated electrons to cuprate and iron-based superconductors. A minimal self-consistent generalization of BCS theory to incorporate antiferromagnetism on an equal footing with pairing and strong Coulomb repulsion is found to account systematically for the major features of high-temperature superconductivity, with microscopic details of the parent compounds entering only parametrically. This provides a systematic procedure to separate essential from peripheral, suggesting that many features exhibited by the high-T_c data set are of interest in their own right but are not central to the superconducting mechanism. More generally, we propose that the surprisingly broad range of conventional and unconventional superconducting and superfluid behavior observed across many fields of physics results from the systematic appearance of similar algebraic structures for the emergent effective Hamiltonians, even though the microscopic Hamiltonians of the corresponding parent states may differ radically from each other.

     

Probing the dynamics of spontaneous quantum vortices in polariton superfluids

The experimental investigation of spontaneously created vortices is of utmost importance for the understanding of quantum phase transitions towards a superfluid phase, especially for two-dimensional systems that are expected to be governed by the Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless physics. By means of time-resolved near-field interferometry we track the path of such vortices, created at random locations in an exciton-polariton condensate under pulsed nonresonant excitation, to their final pinning positions imposed by the stationary disorder. We formulate a theoretical model that successfully reproduces the experimental observations.     

Extracting the condensate density from projection experiments with Fermi gases

A debated issue in the physics of the BCS-BEC crossover with trapped Fermi atoms is to identify characteristic properties of the superfluid phase. Recently, a condensate fraction was measured on the BCS side of the crossover by sweeping the system in a fast (nonadiabatic) way from the BCS to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) sides, thus "projecting" the initial many-body state onto a molecular condensate. We analyze here the theoretical implications of these projection experiments, by identifying the appropriate quantum-mechanical operator associated with the measured quantities and relating them to the many-body correlations occurring in the BCS-BEC crossover. Calculations are presented over wide temperature and coupling ranges, by including pairing fluctuations on top of the mean field.     

超流费米气体中两维孤子的动力学

我们利用解析和数值的方法,研究从Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer(BCS)超流到玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚(BEC)渡越的过程里超流费米气体中两维(2D)孤子的形成和演化.基于超流流体力学方程,在准二维和长波近似下,推导描述弱非线性激发带正色散项的Kadomtsev-Petviashvili方程;给出整个BCS-BEC渡越的2D孤子解,以及数值求解孤子在囚禁势中的演化.数值结果显示由于Snake(横向)不稳定性,大振幅的暗孤子会衰变为大量涡旋-反涡旋对,并且这个不稳定性在不同超流区域不同.     

Quantum hydrodynamics

Quantum hydrodynamics in superfluid helium and atomic Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) has been recently one of the most important topics in low temperature physics. In these systems, a macroscopic wave function (order parameter) appears because of Bose–Einstein condensation, which creates quantized vortices. Turbulence consisting of quantized vortices is called quantum turbulence (QT). The study of quantized vortices and QT has increased in intensity for two reasons. The first is that recent studies of QT are considerably advanced over older studies, which were chiefly limited to thermal counterflow in ⁴${}^4$He, which has no analog with classical traditional turbulence, whereas new studies on QT are focused on a comparison between QT and classical turbulence. The second reason is the realization of atomic BECs in 1995, for which modern optical techniques enable the direct control and visualization of the condensate and can even change the interaction; such direct control is impossible in other quantum condensates like superfluid helium and superconductors. Our group has made many important theoretical and numerical contributions to the field of quantum hydrodynamics of both superfluid helium and atomic BECs. In this article, we review some of the important topics in detail. The topics of quantum hydrodynamics are diverse, so we have not attempted to cover all these topics in this article. We also ensure that the scope of this article does not overlap with our recent review article (arXiv:1004.5458), “Quantized vortices in superfluid helium and atomic Bose–Einstein condensates”, and other review articles.     

高压下的铁基超导体:现象与物理

始于2008年的铁基超导体研究续写了高温超导发展史的新篇章.回顾过去十年对铁基超导体的研究,在理论、实验及应用方面都取得了辉煌的成绩,丰富了人们对高温超导电性的认识,为突破高温超导机理研究、最终实现超导材料的人工设计与更广泛的应用奠定了坚实的基础.本文主要介绍了通过高压实验研究手段在铁基超导体的研究中取得的一些重要进展及呈现出的新现象和新物理,例如压致超导现象、压力导致的超导再进入现象、压力对超导转变温度的提升效应、压力研究对铁基超导体超导转变温度的预测、相分离结构对超导电性的影响及反铁磁-超导双临界点的发现等.希望这些高压研究结果与本文报道的其他各类实验与理论研究成果一起,为全面、深入地理解铁基超导体勾画出一幅较为完整的物理图像.     

ab plane ac conductivity in the cuprates: pseudogap effects below Tc

Building on our understanding of the superfluid density rho(s)(T), we show how the pseudogap enters the in-plane optical conductivity sigma(omega,T) for temperatures T相似文献