Theoretical Physics Colloquium

Superfluid with unequal populations up and down fermions

by Prof. Nandini Trivedi (The Ohio State University)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at Colaba Campus ( AG69 )
Description
What is the fate of a system with attractive interactions between
unequal populations of up and down fermions?  The competition between
a fully paired superfluid and a fully polarized Fermi liquid generates
a novel intermediate phase known as the FFLO phase. Rather remarkably
in this state the pairing amplitude changes sign at domain walls that
accommodate the excess fermions. Despite fifty years of theoretical
and experimental work, there has so far been no direct observation of
this phase. I will report on a proposal to detect the FFLO state using
interferometric techniques. I will also discuss the effect of disorder
on these modulated superfluid states.