Momentum distribution and ordering in mixtures of ultracold light and heavy fermionic atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the momentum distribution and ordering phenomena in mixtures of ultracold light and heavy fermionic atoms can be detected through experimental measurements like momentum distribution and Bragg scattering, with implications for understanding interactions and temperature in such systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates how ordered density-wave phases in light-heavy fermionic mixtures can be identified via momentum distribution and Bragg scattering, highlighting the role of trap confinement and temperature.

Findings

Momentum distribution is mainly influenced by trap confinement.

Ordered phases are detectable through Bragg scattering experiments.

Heavy atom patterns are sensitive to temperature and useful for thermometry.

Abstract

The momentum distribution is one of the most important quantities which provides information about interactions in many-body systems. At the same time it is a quantity that can easily be accessed in experiments on ultracold atoms. In this paper, we consider mixtures of light and heavy fermionic atoms in an optical lattice described effectively by the Falicov-Kimball model. Using a Monte Carlo method, we study how different ordered density-wave phases can be detected by measurement of the momentum distribution of the light atoms. We also demonstrate that ordered phases can be seen in Bragg scattering experiments. Our results indicate that the main factor that determines the momentum distribution of the light atoms is the trap confinement. On the other hand, the pattern formed by the heavy atoms seen in the Bragg scattering experiments is very sensitive to the temperature and possibly can be used in low-temperature thermometry.