Structure and stability of trapped atomic boson-fermion mixtures

Abstract

The structure of binary mixtures of bosonic and fermionic atoms in an external trapping potential at zero temperature is studied on the basis of a modified Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the bosonic component which self-consistently includes the mean-field interaction generated by the fermionic cloud. The density of the fermionic component is described within the Thomas-Fermi approximation. The influence of the boson-boson and the boson-fermion s-wave interaction on the density profiles and the stability of the mixture is investigated systematically. Critical particle numbers for the mean-field collapse caused either by attractive boson-boson or by attractive boson-fermion interactions and for the onset of spatial component separation are discussed. It is shown that the interplay between the boson-boson and the boson-fermion interaction generates a rich and complex phase diagram. Finally, the specific properties and prospects of the boson-fermion mixtures available in present experiments are addressed.