Optical detection of a BCS transition of Lithium-6 in harmonic traps

TL;DR

This paper proposes an optical method to detect the BCS transition in Lithium-6 atoms confined in harmonic traps by observing changes in scattered light intensity related to pair correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical detection technique for BCS superfluidity in trapped fermionic atoms based on scattering measurements.

Findings

Softening of the Fermi hole indicates BCS transition

Increase in off-resonant scattered light at small angles

Theoretical calculation of pair correlation functions

Abstract

We study the detection of a BCS transition within a sample of Lithium--6 atoms confined in a harmonic trap. Using the local density approximation we calculate the pair correlation function in the normal and superfluid state at zero temperature. We show that the softening of the Fermi hole associated with a BCS transition leads to an observable increase in the intensity of off--resonant light scattered from the atomic cloud at small angles.