The vortex state in the BEC to BCS crossover: a path-integral description

TL;DR

This paper develops a path-integral framework to describe vortex states across the BEC-BCS crossover in fermionic superfluids, unifying the two regimes and analyzing vortex core sizes.

Contribution

It introduces a unified path-integral formalism for vortex states in fermionic superfluids across the BEC-BCS crossover, including a study of vortex core sizes.

Findings

Vortex core size depends on molecular healing length in BEC regime.

In BCS regime, vortex core size is proportional to the Fermi wavelength.

Observation of vortices would confirm superfluidity in dilute Fermi gases.

Abstract

We derive a path-integral description of the vortex state of a fermionic superfluid in the crossover region between the molecular condensate (BEC) regime and the Cooper pairing (BCS) regime. This path-integral formalism, supplemented by a suitable choice for the saddle point value of the pairing field in the presence of a vortex, offers a unified description that encompasses both the BEC and BCS limits. The vortex core size is studied as a function of the tunable interaction strength between the fermionic atoms. We find that in the BEC regime, the core size is determined by the molecular healing length, whereas in the BCS regime, the core size is proportional only to the Fermi wave length. The observation of such quantized vortices in dilute Fermi gases would provide an unambiguous proof of the realization of superfluidity in these gases.