Insulating Behavior of a Trapped Ideal Fermi Gas

by L. Pezzè, L. Pitaevskii, A. Smerzi, S. Stringari, G. Modugno, E. de Mirandes, F. Ferlaino, H. Ott, G. Roati, M. Inguscio

Abstract:

We investigate theoretically and experimentally the center-of-mass motion of an ideal Fermi gas in a combined periodic and harmonic potential. We find a crossover from a conducting to an insulating regime as the Fermi energy moves from the first Bloch band into the band gap of the lattice. The conducting regime is characterized by an oscillation of the cloud about the potential minimum, while in the insulating case the center of mass remains on one side of the potential.

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Reference:

Insulating Behavior of a Trapped Ideal Fermi Gas,
L. Pezzè, L. Pitaevskii, A. Smerzi, S. Stringari, G. Modugno, E. de Mirandes, F. Ferlaino, H. Ott, G. Roati, M. Inguscio,
Phys. Rev. Lett., volume 93, 2004.

Bibtex Entry:

@article{PhysRevLett.93.120401,
  title = {Insulating Behavior of a Trapped Ideal Fermi Gas},
  author = {Pezz`e, L. and Pitaevskii, L. and Smerzi, A. and Stringari, S. and Modugno, G. and de Mirandes, E. and Ferlaino, F. and Ott, H. and Roati, G. and Inguscio, M.},
  journal = {Phys. Rev. Lett.},
  volume = {93},
  issue = {12},
  pages = {120401},
  numpages = {4},
  year = {2004},
  month = {Sep},
  abstract = {We investigate theoretically and experimentally the center-of-mass motion of an ideal Fermi gas in a combined periodic and harmonic potential. We find a crossover from a conducting to an insulating regime as the Fermi energy moves from the first Bloch band into the band gap of the lattice. The conducting regime is characterized by an oscillation of the cloud about the potential minimum, while in the insulating case the center of mass remains on one side of the potential.},
  publisher = {American Physical Society},
  doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.120401},
  url = {http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.120401},
  arXiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0401643}
}