Quantum solids, liquids, and gases program: Fluctuations, stability, and phase transitions of Larkin-Ovchinnikov states: quantum liquid crystals

by Prof. Leo Radzihovsky (University of Colorado)

Monday 16 Aug 2010, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Stockholm

Motivated by polarized Feshbach-resonant atomic gases, I will discuss the nature of low-energy fluctuations in the putative Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) state. Because the underlying rotational and translational symmetries are broken spontaneously, this gapless superfluid is a quantum smectic liquid crystal, that exhibits fluctuations that are qualitatively stronger than in a conventional superfluid, thus requiring a fully nonlinear description of its Goldstone modes. Consequently, at nonzero temperature the LO superfluid is an algebraic phase even in 3d. It exhibits half-integer vortex-dislocation defects, whose unbinding leads to transitions to a superfluid nematic and other phases. In 2d at nonzero temperature, the LO state is always unstable to a charge-4 (paired Cooper-pairs) nematic superfluid. I expect this superfluid liquid-crystal phenomenology to be realizable in imbalanced resonant Fermi gases trapped isotropically.