By investigating the tunneling transport of ultracold atomic Fermi gases, we reveal for the first time a peculiar enhancement of the conductance of neutral superfluids, in contrast with charged superconductors. — Both superfluids and superconductors owe their distinctive frictionless flow to their condensed nature, namely the macroscopic occupation of a single quantum state. Regardless of the electric charge of the constituent particles, condensation results in the emergence of the Josephson effect: a tunneling current flows when two superfluid reservoirs are coupled with one another through a thin insulating barrier in a so-called Josephson junction.
Exactly as their superconducting counterparts, fermionic superfluids composed of ultracold atoms can support the flow of a dissipationless current through the junction up to a maximum value. This maximum Josephson current is directly connected to the condensate density, as we demonstrated in a previous study in the low-temperature limit, and extended in this work to finite temperatures across the superfluid transition.
For higher currents instead, the junction behaves resistively, giving rise to a finite Ohmic conductance, which we find to massively exceed the value observed in charged electronic junctions. Such large anomalous conductance, fostered by the condensate coupling with sound wave excitations, is tightly linked to charge neutrality boosting particle transport through the junction. This behavior is indeed absent in electronic junctions, where Coulomb interactions inhibit sound waves and the conductance is essentially given by the tunneling of non-condensed particles.

G. Del Pace et al.
Tunneling Transport of Unitary Fermions across the Superfluid Transition
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 055301 (2021)

It is a great privilege for us to welcome Nigel Cooper, Professor in Theoretical Physics of University of Cambridge. Prof. Cooper will honour us with his presence for one year as a Visiting Professor of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Florence.
The research interests of Prof. Cooper are focused on the nature and properties of the novel phases of matter that can emerge as a result of quantum mechanical effects in interacting many-particle systems. In particular, he is a world leader in the investigation of the role of topology in the collective properties of ultra-cold atomic gases and of the electronic properties of novel solid state materials. He was awarded the 2007 Maxwell Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics, a Humboldt Research Award (2013), an EPSRC Established Career Fellowship (2013), a Simons Investigator Award (2017) and the 2019 Lord Rayleigh Prize of the IOP.

We have experimentally and theoretically studied how the interactions affect the interference pattern of two expanding ⁸⁷Rb condensates. Our analysis shows that the condensate phase is modified by the mutual interaction only in the region where the wave packets overlap. This result proves that the general assumption of phase rigidity has to be abandoned for an accurate description of matter-wave interference.

A. Burchianti et al.
Effect of interactions in the interference pattern of Bose-Einstein condensates
Phys. Rev. A 102, 043314 (2020)

We study the ultimate bounds on the sensitivity of a Bloch-oscillation atom interferometer where the external force is estimated from the measurement of the on-site atomic density. For external forces such that the energy difference between lattice sites is smaller than the tunneling energy, the atomic wave-function spreads over many lattice sites, increasing the separation between the occupied modes of the lattice and naturally enhancing the sensitivity of the interferometer. To investigate the applicability of this scheme we estimate the effect of uncontrolled fluctuations of the tunneling energy and the finite resolution of the atom detection. Our analysis shows that a horizontal lattice combined with a weak external force allow for high sensitivities. Therefore, this setup is a promising solution for compact devices or for measurements with high spatial resolution.

I. Nałȩcz, et al.,
Sensitivity bounds of a spatial Bloch-oscillation atom interferometer
Phys. Rev. A 102, 033318 (2020)

Within the CriLiN project, EU-funded through a Marie Skłodowska-Curie action, Alessio will develop a novel type of atomic quantum simulator with long-range, multi-body interactions.