Evolution of Cooper pairs with zero-center-of-mass momentum and their first-order correlation function in a two-dimensional ultracold Fermi gas near the observed Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the behavior of Cooper pairs and their correlations in a 2D ultracold Fermi gas near the BKT transition, showing that observed features can be explained without superfluidity, highlighting the need for further experiments.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the observed signatures of the BKT transition in a 2D Fermi gas can be explained by strong-coupling normal-state properties using a T-matrix approximation.

Findings

Enhanced zero-momentum pair distribution explained by normal-state fluctuations

Power-law decay of correlation function consistent with strong-coupling effects

Further experiments needed to confirm true BKT transition in Fermi gas

Abstract

We investigate the center-of-mass momentum distribution $n_{\boldsymbol Q}$ of Cooper pairs and their first-order correlation function $g_1(r)$ in a strongly interacting two-dimensional Fermi gas. Recently, the BKT (Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless) transition was reported in a two-dimensional $^6$Li Fermi gas, based on (1) the observations of anomalous enhancement of $n_{{\boldsymbol Q}={\boldsymbol 0}}$ [M. G. Ries, et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 230401 (2015)], as well as (2) a power-law behavior of $g_1(r)$ [P. A. Murthy, et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 010401 (2015)]. However, including pairing fluctuations within a $T$-matrix approximation (TMA), we show that these results can still be explained as strong-coupling properties of a normal-state two-dimensional Fermi gas. Our results indicate the importance of further experimental observations, to definitely confirm the realization of the BKT transition in this system. Since the BKT transition has been realized in a two-dimensional ultracold Bose gas, our results would be useful for the achievement of this quasi-long range order in an ultracold Fermi gas.