We study the interplay between population imbalance in a two-component fermionic system and nearest-neighbor interaction using matrix product states method. Our analysis reveals the existence of a new type of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov phase in the presence of competing interactions. Furthermore, we find distinct evidence for the presence of hidden order in the system. We present an effective model to understand the emergent oscillations in the string correlations due to the imbalance, and show how they can become an efficient tool to investigate systems with imbalance.
Using the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method and exact diagonalization, we study the non-equilibrium dynamics of the one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model following a quantum quench or a ramp of the onsite interaction strength. For quenches from the non-interacting to the attractive regime, we investigate the dynamical emergence of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) correlations, which at finite spin polarizations are the dominant two-body correlations in the ground state, and their signatures in the pair quasi-momentum distribution function. We observe that the post-quench double occupancy exhibits a maximum as the interaction strength becomes of the order of the bandwidth. Finally, we study quenches and ramps from attractive to repulsive interactions, which imprint FFLO correlations onto repulsively bound pairs. We show that a quite short ramp time is sufficient to wipe out the characteristic FFLO features in the post-quench pair momentum distribution functions.
Pairing in a population imbalanced Fermi system in a two-dimensional optical lattice is studied using Determinant Quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) simulations and mean-field calculations. The approximation-free numerical results show a wide range of stability of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovshinnikov (FFLO) phase. Contrary to claims of fragility with increased dimensionality we find that this phase is stable across wide range of values for the polarization, temperature and interaction strength. Both homogeneous and harmonically trapped systems display pairing with finite center of mass momentum, with clear signatures either in momentum space or real space, which could be observed in cold atomic gases loaded in an optical lattice. We also use the harmonic level basis in the confined system and find that pairs can form between particles occupying different levels which can be seen as the analog of the finite center of mass momentum pairing in the translationally invariant case. Finally, we perform mean field calculations for the uniform and confined systems and show the results to be in good agreement with QMC. This leads to a simple picture of the different pairing mechanisms, depending on the filling and confining potential.
We study a two-component Fermi system with attractive interactions and different populations of the two species in a cubic lattice. For an intermediate coupling we find a uniformly polarized superfluid which is stable down to very low temperatures. The momentum distribution of this phase closely resembles that of the Sarma phase, characterized by two Fermi surfaces. This phase is shown to be stabilized by a potential energy gain, as in a BCS superfluid, in contrast to the unpolarized BEC which is stabilized by kinetic energy. We present general arguments suggesting that preformed pairs in the unpolarized superfluid favor the stabilization of a polarized superfluid phase.
The Extended Fermi-Hubbard model is a rather studied Hamiltonian due to both its many applications and a rich phase diagram. Here we prove that all the phase transitions encoded in its one dimensional version are detectable via non-local operators related to charge and spin fluctuations. The main advantage in using them is that, in contrast to usual local operators, their asymptotic average value is finite only in the appropriate gapped phases. This makes them powerful and accurate probes to detect quantum phase transitions. Our results indeed confirm that they are able to properly capture both the nature and the location of the transitions. Relevantly, this happens also for conducting phases with a spin gap, thus providing an order parameter for the identification of superconducting and paired superfluid phases
Recently, it has become apparent that, when the interactions between polar molecules in optical lattices becomes strong, the conventional description using the extended Hubbard model has to be modified by additional terms, in particular a density-dependent tunneling term. We investigate here the influence of this term on the ground-state phase diagrams of the two dimensional extended Bose-Hubbard model. Using Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the changes of the superfluid, supersolid, and phase-separated parameter regions in the phase diagram of the system. By studying the interplay of the density-dependent hopping with the usual on-site interaction U and nearest-neighbor repulsion V, we show that the ground-state phase diagrams differ significantly from the ones that are expected from the standard extended Bose-Hubbard model. However we find no indication of pair-superfluid behavior in this two dimensional square lattice study in contrast to the one-dimensional case.