Phase Separation of Superfluids in the Chain of Four-Component Ultracold Atoms

TL;DR

This paper explores how different superfluid states compete in a chain of ultracold fermionic atoms with hyperfine spin 3/2, revealing an inhomogeneous ground state with alternating superfluid phases.

Contribution

It demonstrates the emergence of an inhomogeneous mixture of spin-carrying pairs and singlet quartets as the ground state in a chain of ultracold fermionic atoms with hyperfine spin 3/2.

Findings

Ground state is an inhomogeneous mixture of superfluid phases.

Alternating domains of spin-carrying pairs and singlet quartets.

Extended parameter space where these phases coexist.

Abstract

We investigate the competition of various exotic superfluid states in a chain of spin-polarized ultracold fermionic atoms with hyperfine spin $F = 3/2$ and s-wave contact interactions. We show that the ground state is an exotic inhomogeneous mixture in which two distinct superfluid phases --- spin-carrying pairs and singlet quartets --- form alternating domains in an extended region of the parameter space.