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Strongly Interacting Mass Imbalanced Superfluid with ultracold fermions

Project description

Unique ultracold gas mixture offering new insight into superfluidity

When atoms are cooled to temperatures close to zero kelvin, they can form exotic new states of quantum matter such as superfluids. In this novel phase, certain fluids lose internal friction. The EU-funded SIMIS project plans to explore fundamental questions about new types of superfluids created from ultracold mixtures of atomic gases. Combining two different atomic species modifies interatomic pairing properties and thus changes the nature of the superfluids. The study will focus on obtaining the phase diagram and the thermodynamic properties of such an atomic gas mixture. Using quantum simulation, this unique quantum system will offer a promising platform for unprecedented studies on superfluidity. Observations of superfluids can help answer lingering questions about other strange phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity.

Objective

Superfluids violate our classical intuition, provoking many intriguing questions in modern condensed matter physics. In particular, superfluid phases with non-standard pairing mechanisms, which play an essential role in diverse physical systems including high-Tc superconductivity, have attracted great interests, and the underlying principles challenge our understanding. Ultracold atomic systems have emerged as an ideal testbed for simulating such many-body states by directly comparing theories with experiments. Recently, the host group has achieved a novel mass-imbalanced Fermi-Fermi mixture, which offers unprecedented opportunities to realize unusual superfluid phases. Here, we propose experimental studies on unconventional superfluidity by exploiting the excellent controllability in our new quantum system.
Mass imbalance changes how the two Fermi surfaces overlap, causing the pairs to have finite momentum and resulting in a rich phase diagram. We aim to explore many-body phases appearing in a mass-imbalanced Fermi-Fermi mixture near the strongly interacting limit. To demonstrate superfluidity, we will probe the atoms by magnetic and optic methods, which allow distinguishing between pairs and unpaired atoms. Moreover, we will investigate the superfluid shell structure in a trapped system to characterize the phase diagram and the thermodynamic properties in the strongly interacting regime, based on tomographic imaging. Finally, we plan to extend our methods to search for exotic forms of superfluidity such as supersolid or gapless phases.
Our research will open a new chapter of condensed-matter simulation with ultracold atoms by providing a unique platform to study unconventional superfluidity. The successful demonstration will have strong impact on the scientific community even beyond the field of quantum gases. The techniques applied in this project can be further developed to address many other interesting topics such as impurity physics and transport dynamics.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 174 167,04
Address
INNRAIN 52
6020 Innsbruck
Austria

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Region
Westösterreich Tirol Innsbruck
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 174 167,04
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