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Article
Collision of Two Spin Polarized Fermionic Clouds
Physical Review A (2011)
  • Olga Goulko, University of Cambridge
  • Frederic Chevy, Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris
  • Carlos Lobo, University of Southampton
Abstract
We study the collision of two spin polarized Fermi clouds in a harmonic trap using a simulation of the Boltzmann equation. As observed in recent experiments we find three distinct regimes of behavior. For weak interactions the clouds pass through each other. If interactions are increased they approach each other exponentially and for strong interactions they bounce off each other several times. We thereby demonstrate that all these phenomena can be reproduced using a semiclassical collisional approach and that these changes in behavior are associated with an increasing collision rate. We then show that the oscillation of the clouds in the bounce regime is an example of an unusual case in quantum gases: a nonlinear coupling between collective modes, namely the spin dipole mode and the axial breathing mode which is enforced by collisions. We also determine the frequency of the bounce as a function of the final temperature of the equilibrated system. 
Keywords
  • degenerate Fermi gases,
  • Boltzmann equation
Publication Date
November, 2011
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevA.84.051605
Citation Information
Olga Goulko, Frederic Chevy and Carlos Lobo. "Collision of Two Spin Polarized Fermionic Clouds" Physical Review A Vol. 84 Iss. 5 (2011) p. 051605
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/olga-goulko/15/