Universal spin transport in a strongly interacting Fermi gas

Transport of fermions, particles with half-integer spin, is central to many fields of physics. Electron transport runs modern technology, defining states of matter such as superconductors and insulators, and electron spin is being explored as a new carrier of information. Neutrino transport energizes supernova explosions following the collapse of a dying star, and hydrodynamic transport of the quark-gluon plasma governed the expansion of the early Universe. However, our understanding of non-equilibrium dynamics in such strongly interacting fermionic matter is still limited. Ultracold gases of fermionic atoms realize a pristine model for such systems and can be studied in real time with the precision of atomic physics. Even above the superfluid transition, such gases flow as an almost perfect fluid with very low viscosity when interactions are tuned to a scattering resonance. In this hydrodynamic regime, collective density excitations are weakly damped. Here we experimentally investigate spin excitations in a Fermi gas of (6)Li atoms, finding that, in contrast, they are maximally damped. A spin current is induced by spatially separating two spin components and observing their evolution in an external trapping potential. We demonstrate that interactions can be strong enough to reverse spin currents, with components of opposite spin reflecting off each other. Near equilibrium, we obtain the spin drag coefficient, the spin diffusivity and the spin susceptibility as a function of temperature on resonance and show that they obey universal laws at high temperatures. In the degenerate regime, the spin diffusivity approaches a value set by [planck]/m, the quantum limit of diffusion, where [planck]/m is Planck's constant divided by 2π and m the atomic mass. For repulsive interactions, our measurements seem to exclude a metastable ferromagnetic state.     

Vortices and superfluidity in a strongly interacting Fermi gas

Quantum degenerate Fermi gases provide a remarkable opportunity to study strongly interacting fermions. In contrast to other Fermi systems, such as superconductors, neutron stars or the quark-gluon plasma of the early Universe, these gases have low densities and their interactions can be precisely controlled over an enormous range. Previous experiments with Fermi gases have revealed condensation of fermion pairs. Although these and other studies were consistent with predictions assuming superfluidity, proof of superfluid behaviour has been elusive. Here we report observations of vortex lattices in a strongly interacting, rotating Fermi gas that provide definitive evidence for superfluidity. The interaction and therefore the pairing strength between two 6Li fermions near a Feshbach resonance can be controlled by an external magnetic field. This allows us to explore the crossover from a Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules to a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid of loosely bound pairs. The crossover is associated with a new form of superfluidity that may provide insights into high-transition-temperature superconductors.     

Thermal stability conditions of a weakly interacting Fermi gas in a weak magnetic field

On the basis of the results derived from pseudopotential method and ensemble theory, thermal stability of a weakly interacting Fermi gas in a weak magnetic field are studied by using analytical method of thermodynamics. The exact analytical expressions of stability conditions at different temperatures are given, and the effects of interactions as well as magnetic field on stability of the system are discussed. It is shown that there is an upper-limit magnetic field for the stability of the system at low temperatures and there is an attractive dividing value at high temperatures. If attractive interaction is lower than the critical value, the stability of the system has no request for magnetic field, but if attractive interaction is higher than the dividing value, a lower-limit magnetic field exists for the stability of the system.     

Spin-imbalance in a one-dimensional Fermi gas

Superconductivity and magnetism generally do not coexist. Changing the relative number of up and down spin electrons disrupts the basic mechanism of superconductivity, where atoms of opposite momentum and spin form Cooper pairs. Nearly forty years ago Fulde and Ferrell and Larkin and Ovchinnikov (FFLO) proposed an exotic pairing mechanism in which magnetism is accommodated by the formation of pairs with finite momentum. Despite intense theoretical and experimental efforts, however, polarized superconductivity remains largely elusive. Unlike the three-dimensional (3D) case, theories predict that in one dimension (1D) a state with FFLO correlations occupies a major part of the phase diagram. Here we report experimental measurements of density profiles of a two-spin mixture of ultracold (6)Li atoms trapped in an array of 1D tubes (a system analogous to electrons in 1D wires). At finite spin imbalance, the system phase separates with an inverted phase profile, as compared to the 3D case. In 1D, we find a partially polarized core surrounded by wings which, depending on the degree of polarization, are composed of either a completely paired or a fully polarized Fermi gas. Our work paves the way to direct observation and characterization of FFLO pairing.     

Observation of a pairing pseudogap in a two-dimensional Fermi gas

Pairing of fermions is ubiquitous in nature, underlying many phenomena. Examples include superconductivity, superfluidity of (3)He, the anomalous rotation of neutron stars, and the crossover between Bose-Einstein condensation of dimers and the BCS (Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer) regime in strongly interacting Fermi gases. When confined to two dimensions, interacting many-body systems show even more subtle effects, many of which are not understood at a fundamental level. Most striking is the (as yet unexplained) phenomenon of high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides, which is intimately related to the two-dimensional geometry of the crystal structure. In particular, it is not understood how the many-body pairing is established at high temperature, and whether it precedes superconductivity. Here we report the observation of a many-body pairing gap above the superfluid transition temperature in a harmonically trapped, two-dimensional atomic Fermi gas in the regime of strong coupling. Our measurements of the spectral function of the gas are performed using momentum-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, analogous to angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in the solid state. Our observations mark a significant step in the emulation of layered two-dimensional strongly correlated superconductors using ultracold atomic gases.     

Emergence of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate from a Fermi gas

The realization of superfluidity in a dilute gas of fermionic atoms, analogous to superconductivity in metals, represents a long-standing goal of ultracold gas research. In such a fermionic superfluid, it should be possible to adjust the interaction strength and tune the system continuously between two limits: a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-type superfluid (involving correlated atom pairs in momentum space) and a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), in which spatially local pairs of atoms are bound together. This crossover between BCS-type superfluidity and the BEC limit has long been of theoretical interest, motivated in part by the discovery of high-temperature superconductors. In atomic Fermi gas experiments superfluidity has not yet been demonstrated; however, long-lived molecules consisting of locally paired fermions have been reversibly created. Here we report the direct observation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate created solely by adjusting the interaction strength in an ultracold Fermi gas of atoms. This state of matter represents one extreme of the predicted BCS-BEC continuum.     

Creation of ultracold molecules from a Fermi gas of atoms

Following the realization of Bose-Einstein condensates in atomic gases, an experimental challenge is the production of molecular gases in the quantum regime. A promising approach is to create the molecular gas directly from an ultracold atomic gas; for example, bosonic atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate have been coupled to electronic ground-state molecules through photoassociation or a magnetic field Feshbach resonance. The availability of atomic Fermi gases offers the prospect of coupling fermionic atoms to bosonic molecules, thus altering the quantum statistics of the system. Such a coupling would be closely related to the pairing mechanism in a fermionic superfluid, predicted to occur near a Feshbach resonance. Here we report the creation and quantitative characterization of ultracold 40K2 molecules. Starting with a quantum degenerate Fermi gas of atoms at a temperature of less than 150 nK, we scan the system over a Feshbach resonance to create adiabatically more than 250,000 trapped molecules; these can be converted back to atoms by reversing the scan. The small binding energy of the molecules is controlled by detuning the magnetic field away from the Feshbach resonance, and can be varied over a wide range. We directly detect these weakly bound molecules through their radio-frequency photodissociation spectra; these probe the molecular wavefunction, and yield binding energies that are consistent with theory.     

Phase diagram of a two-component Fermi gas with resonant interactions

The pairing of fermions lies at the heart of superconductivity and superfluidity. The stability of these pairs determines the robustness of the superfluid state, and the quest for superconductors with high critical temperature equates to a search for systems with strong pairing mechanisms. Ultracold atomic Fermi gases present a highly controllable model system for studying strongly interacting fermions. Tunable interactions (through Feshbach collisional resonances) and the control of population or mass imbalance among the spin components provide unique opportunities to investigate the stability of pairing-and possibly to search for exotic forms of superfluidity. A major controversy has surrounded the stability of superfluidity against an imbalance between the two spin components when the fermions interact resonantly (that is, at unitarity). Here we present the phase diagram of a spin-polarized Fermi gas of (6)Li atoms at unitarity, experimentally mapping out the superfluid phases versus temperature and density imbalance. Using tomographic techniques, we reveal spatial discontinuities in the spin polarization; this is the signature of a first-order superfluid-to-normal phase transition, and disappears at a tricritical point where the nature of the phase transition changes from first-order to second-order. At zero temperature, there is a quantum phase transition from a fully paired superfluid to a partially polarized normal gas. These observations and the implementation of an in situ ideal gas thermometer provide quantitative tests of theoretical calculations on the stability of resonant superfluidity.     

相对论q形变理想费米气体的低温热力学统计性质

在q形变费米-狄拉克分布函数的基础上,研究了相对论q形变理想费米气体的低温热力学统计性质,得到了一些重要热力学量例如费米能,基态能,化学势,总能和热容量的解析表达式,揭示了q形变参数和相对论对系统性质的影响.结果表明:q形变导致了一些与正常的系统不同的新奇特性,另外,相对论费米系统的性质与非相对论系统的性质明显不同.     

相对论q形变理想费米气体的低温热力学统计性质

在q形变费米-狄拉克分布函数的基础上，研究了相对论q形变理想费米气体的低温热力学统计性质，得到了一些重要热力学量例如费米能，基态能，化学势，总能和热容量的解析表达式，揭示了q形变参数和相对论对系统性质的影响。结果表明：q形变导致了一些与正常的系统不同的新奇特性，另外，相对论费米系统的性质与非相对论系统的性质明显不同。     

Linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy of a strongly coupled microdisk-quantum dot system

Cavity quantum electrodynamics, the study of coherent quantum interactions between the electromagnetic field and matter inside a resonator, has received attention as both a test bed for ideas in quantum mechanics and a building block for applications in the field of quantum information processing. The canonical experimental system studied in the optical domain is a single alkali atom coupled to a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. Progress made in this system has recently been complemented by research involving trapped ions, chip-based microtoroid cavities, integrated microcavity-atom-chips, nanocrystalline quantum dots coupled to microsphere cavities, and semiconductor quantum dots embedded in micropillars, photonic crystals and microdisks. The last system has been of particular interest owing to its relative simplicity and scalability. Here we use a fibre taper waveguide to perform direct optical spectroscopy of a system consisting of a quantum dot embedded in a microdisk. In contrast to earlier work with semiconductor systems, which has focused on photoluminescence measurements, we excite the system through the photonic (light) channel rather than the excitonic (matter) channel. Strong coupling, the regime of coherent quantum interactions, is demonstrated through observation of vacuum Rabi splitting in the transmitted and reflected signals from the cavity. The fibre coupling method also allows us to examine the system's steady-state nonlinear properties, where we see a saturation of the cavity-quantum dot response for less than one intracavity photon. The excitation of the cavity-quantum dot system through a fibre optic waveguide is central to applications such as high-efficiency single photon sources, and to more fundamental studies of the quantum character of the system.     

弱磁场中弱相互作用费米气体的相对论修正效应

基于量子统计方法，通过考虑单粒子能谱的相对论修正且引入无自旋自由费米子的非相对论自由能，导出弱磁场中弱相互作用费米气体的自由能，给出各种温度条件下系统热力学量的解析式，详细具体地展示相对论修正对热力学性质的影响，并分析其影响机理.研究表明，与非相对论比较，相对论修正总是降低化学势，在低温下也降低总能及热容量，而在高温下增加总能及热容量；除低温下的热容量外，总能及热容量的改变比例于磁场的平方.     

囚禁有限unitary费米气体的压强与状态方程

目的研究非对称与球对称简谐势阱中有限unitary费米气体的压强与状态方程。方法运用分数不相容统计法。结果求出了非对称与球对称简谐势阱中有限unitary费米气体的压强张量以及压强与内能的关系,导出了球对称势阱中的状态方程并给出了低温强简并近似和高温弱简并近似。结论揭示了有限unitary费米气体系统压强的有限尺度效应,给出了有限尺度效应判据。指出了球对称简谐势阱中有限unitary费米气体的压强在空间3个方向上各向同性与非对称势阱中压强张量在空间3个方向各向异性的特征,阐明了非对称势阱中沿着势阱圆频率低的方向压强张量高,沿着势阱圆频率高的方向压强张量低的规律,揭示了压强张量在空间3个方向各向异性的物理本质。     

Speckle无序对一维谐振势中自旋极化费米气体的影响

基于局域密度近似的Bethe-ansatz方法,研究了谐振势中两组分一维自旋极化费米气体的基态性质,以及无序对其影响.对于无外势的干净系统,基态是完全配对的Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer(BCS)相,或部分极化的Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov(FFLO)相,或完全极化的正常相.当系统中存在谐振势但仍干净时,系统成为两相混合的状态:中间部分是FFLO相;边缘部分或为BCS相,或为正常相.这之间存在一个临界相,即纯的FFLO相.发现当外势和无序共同存在,总极化强度固定时,随着无序振幅的增强,系统能从FFLO-BCS相变为FFLO-N(FFLO-Normal)相.     

准二维谐振势阱中有限尺度的非理想玻色气体

研究了准二维谐振势阱中粒子数有限的非理想玻色气体的热力学性质。利用巨正则系综的求和方法与平均场理论，给出了有限粒子数与原子间相互作用对系统势力学性质的共同修正；并将所得结果与三维时的情况进行了比较。结果表明：降低维数不能提高系统的临界温度；在准二维谐振系统中，有限粒子数对系统的影响随着粒子数的增大而减小直至消失，而相互作用的影响与粒子数无关，因此可以通过增大粒子数来提高准二维谐振系统的临界温度。     

Creating, moving and merging Dirac points with a Fermi gas in a tunable honeycomb lattice

Dirac points are central to many phenomena in condensed-matter physics, from massless electrons in graphene to the emergence of conducting edge states in topological insulators. At a Dirac point, two energy bands intersect linearly and the electrons behave as relativistic Dirac fermions. In solids, the rigid structure of the material determines the mass and velocity of the electrons, as well as their interactions. A different, highly flexible means of studying condensed-matter phenomena is to create model systems using ultracold atoms trapped in the periodic potential of interfering laser beams. Here we report the creation of Dirac points with adjustable properties in a tunable honeycomb optical lattice. Using momentum-resolved interband transitions, we observe a minimum bandgap inside the Brillouin zone at the positions of the two Dirac points. We exploit the unique tunability of our lattice potential to adjust the effective mass of the Dirac fermions by breaking inversion symmetry. Moreover, changing the lattice anisotropy allows us to change the positions of the Dirac points inside the Brillouin zone. When the anisotropy exceeds a critical limit, the two Dirac points merge and annihilate each other-a situation that has recently attracted considerable theoretical interest but that is extremely challenging to observe in solids. We map out this topological transition in lattice parameter space and find excellent agreement with ab initio calculations. Our results not only pave the way to model materials in which the topology of the band structure is crucial, but also provide an avenue to exploring many-body phases resulting from the interplay of complex lattice geometries with interactions.     

氧化钛纳米晶溶胶作为共振光散射探针检测L-酪氨酸

以自制粒径约6 nm的氧化钛纳米晶与L-酪氨酸结合后对共振光散射有增敏作用为基础,建立了以TiO2纳米晶溶胶为探针的共振光散射法检测溶液中L-酪氨酸的方法. 考察了pH、超声时间、静置时间、纳米晶浓度和干扰组分对测定的影响. 酪氨酸浓度在0.5～4.0×10-6 g·mL-1 范围呈现较好的线性, 工作曲线的回归方程为ΔIRLS=640.9c+163.4,r=0.993,检出限为1.0×10-7 g·mL-1. 测定了复方氨基酸注射液(18AA)中酪氨酸的含量, 回收率为(99.5～102.0)%,相对     

努力探索新型工业化道路

党的十六大报告指出，我国在新世纪的头20年要基本实现工业化，并提出“走新型工业化道路”。本文对“什么是新型工业化道路”“我国为什么要走新型工业化道路”以及“怎样走新型工业化道路”等问题进行探讨。