Stability of spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases with population imbalance

We use the self-consistent mean-field theory to analyze the effects of Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on the ground-state phase diagram of population-imbalanced Fermi gases throughout the BCS-Bose-Einstein condensate evolution. We find that the SOC and population imbalance are counteracting, and that this competition tends to stabilize the uniform superfluid phase against the phase separation. However, we also show that the SOC stabilizes (destabilizes) the uniform superfluid phase against the normal phase for low (high) population imbalances. In addition, we find topological quantum phase transitions associated with the appearance of momentum-space regions with zero quasiparticle energies, and study their signatures in the momentum distribution.     

Spin-orbit coupling adjusting topological superfluid of mass-imbalanced Fermi gas

Topological superfluid state is different from the normal superfluid one due to the excitation energy gap on the boundary. How to obtain the topological superfluid state by using spin-orbit coupling to control the s-waves paired mass-imbalanced Fermi gas is a recent novel topic. In this paper, we study the topological superfluid phase diagram of two-dimensional mass-imbalanced Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling at zero temperature. We find that due to the competition among mass imbalance, pairing interaction and spin-orbit coupling, there is a double-well structure in the thermodynamic potential, which affects the properties of the ground state of the system. We comprehensively give the phase diagrams of the system on the plane of spin-orbit coupling and chemical potential, and the phase diagrams on the plane of the reduced mass ratio and two-body binding energy. This study not only points out the stable region of topological superfluid state of mass-imbalanced Fermi gas, but also provides a detailed theoretical basis for better observation of topological superfluid state in experiments.     

A Realistic Model for Observing Spin-Balanced Fulde-Ferrell Superfluid in Honeycomb Lattices

The combination of spin-orbit coupling(SOC)and in-plane Zeeman Held breaks time-reversal and inversion symmetries of Fermi gases and becomes a popular way to produce single plane wave Fulde-Ferrell(FF)superfluid.However,atom loss and heating related to SOC have impeded the successful observation of FF state until now.In this work,we propose the realization of spin-balanced FF superfluid in a honeycomb lattice without SOC and the Zeeman field.A key ingredient of our scheme is generating complex hopping terms in original honeycomb lattices by periodical driving.In our model the ground state is always the FF state,thus the experimental observation has no need of fine tuning.The other advantages of our scheme are its simplicity and feasibility,and thus may open a new route for observing FF superfluids.     

SU(3) spin-orbit coupled fermions in an optical lattice

We propose a scheme to realize the SU(3)spin-orbit coupled three-component fermions in an one-dimensional optical lattice.The topological properties of the single-particle Hamiltonian are studied by calculating the Berry phase,winding number and edge state.We also investigate the effects of the interaction on the ground-state topology of the system,and characterize the interaction-induced topological phase transitions,using a state-of-the-art density-matrix renormalization-group numerical method.Finally,we show the typical features of the emerging quantum phases,and map out the many-body phase diagram between the interaction and the Zeeman field.Our results establish a way for exploring novel quantum physics induced by the SOC with SU(N)symmetry.     

Tuning the tricritical point with spin-orbit coupling in polarized fermionic condensates

We investigate a two-component atomic Fermi gas with population imbalance in the presence of Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC). As a competition between SOC and population imbalance, the finite-temperature phase diagram reveals a large variety of new features, including the expanding of the superfluid state regime and the shrinking of both the phase separation and the normal regimes. For sufficiently strong SOC, the phase separation region disappears, giving way to the superfluid state. We find that the tricritical point moves toward a regime of low temperature, high magnetic field, and high polarization as the SOC increases.     

Superfluidity and collective modes in Rashba spin–orbit coupled Fermi gases

We present a theoretical study of the superfluidity and the corresponding collective modes in two-component atomic Fermi gases with s$s$-wave attraction and synthetic Rashba spin–orbit coupling. The general effective action for the collective modes is derived from the functional path integral formalism. By tuning the spin–orbit coupling from weak to strong, the system undergoes a crossover from an ordinary BCS/BEC superfluid to a Bose–Einstein condensate of rashbons. We show that the properties of the superfluid density and the Anderson–Bogoliubov mode manifest this crossover. At large spin–orbit coupling, the superfluid density and the sound velocity become independent of the strength of the s$s$-wave attraction. The two-body interaction among the rashbons is also determined. When a Zeeman field is turned on, the system undergoes quantum phase transitions to some exotic superfluid phases which are topologically nontrivial. For the two-dimensional system, the nonanalyticities of the thermodynamic functions and the sound velocity across the phase transition are related to the bulk gapless fermionic excitation which causes infrared singularities. The superfluid density and the sound velocity behave nonmonotonically: they are suppressed by the Zeeman field in the normal superfluid phase, but get enhanced in the topological superfluid phase. The three-dimensional system is also studied.     

Nodal Topological Phases in s-wave Superfluid of Ultracold Fermionic Gases

The gapless Weyl superfluid has been widely studied in the three-dimensional ultracold fermionic superfluid.In contrast to Weyl superfluid, there exists another kind of gapless superfluid with topologically protected nodal lines,which can be regarded as the superfluid counterpart of nodal line semimetal in the condensed matter physics, just as Weyl superfluid with Weyl semimetal. In this paper we study the ground states of the cold fermionic gases in cubic optical lattices with one-dimensional spin-orbit coupling and transverse Zeeman field and map out the topological phase diagram of the system. We demonstrate that in addition to a fully gapped topologically trivial phase, some different nodal line superfluid phases appear when the Zeeman field is adjusted. The presence of topologically stable nodal lines implies the dispersionless zero-energy flat band in a finite region of the surface Brillouin zone. Experimentally these nodal line superfluid states can be detected via the momentum-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy. The nodal line topological superfluid provide fertile grounds for exploring exotic quantum matters in the context of ultracold atoms.     

BCS-BEC crossover in 2D Fermi gases with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We present a systematic theoretical study of the BCS-BEC crossover in two-dimensional Fermi gases with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC). By solving the exact two-body problem in the presence of an attractive short-range interaction we show that the SOC enhances the formation of the bound state: the binding energy E(B) and effective mass m(B) of the bound state grows along with the increase of the SOC. For the many-body problem, even at weak attraction, a dilute Fermi gas can evolve from a BCS superfluid state to a Bose condensation of molecules when the SOC becomes comparable to the Fermi momentum. The ground-state properties and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition temperature are studied, and analytical results are obtained in various limits. For large SOC, the BKT transition temperature recovers that for a Bose gas with an effective mass m(B). We find that the condensate and superfluid densities have distinct behaviors in the presence of SOC: the condensate density is generally enhanced by the SOC due to the increase of the molecule binding; the superfluid density is suppressed because of the nontrivial molecule effective mass m(B).     

Probing two Higgs oscillations in a one-dimensional Fermi superfluid with Raman-type spin–orbit coupling

We theoretically investigate the Higgs oscillation in a one-dimensional Raman-type spin–orbit-coupled Fermi superfluid with the time-dependent Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations. By linearly ramping or abruptly changing the effective Zeeman field in both the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer state and the topological superfluid state, we find the amplitude of the order parameter exhibits an oscillating behaviour over time with two different frequencies (i.e., two Higgs oscillations) in contrast to the single one in a conventional Fermi superfluid. The observed period of oscillations has a great agreement with the one calculated using the previous prediction [Volkov and Kogan, J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 38, 1018 (1974)], where the oscillating periods are now determined by the minimums of two quasi-particle spectrum in this system. We further verify the existence of two Higgs oscillations using a periodic ramp strategy with theoretically calculated driving frequency. Our predictions would be useful for further theoretical and experimental studies of these Higgs oscillations in spin–orbit-coupled systems.     

Superfluid-superradiant mixed phase of the interacting degenerate Fermi gas in an optical cavity

We investigate the ground-state properties of an attractively interacting degenerate Fermi gas coupling with a high-finesse optical cavity. We predict a new mixed phase with both the superfluid and superradiant properties for the intermediate fermion-fermion interaction and fermion-photon coupling strengths. Moreover, in this mixed phase a relatively large ratio of the scaled polarization to the dimensionless mean-field gap, which is in contrast to that in the conventional superfluid regime can be obtained. We also figure out rich phase diagrams depending crucially on the atomic resonant frequency (effective Zeeman field) and address briefly the experimental detection of our predicted quantum phases.     

Topological Fulde–Ferrell and Larkin–Ovchinnikov states in spin-orbit-coupled lattice system

The spin-orbit coupled lattice system under Zeeman fields provides an ideal platform to realize exotic pairing states. Notable examples range from the topological superfluid/superconducting (tSC) state, which is gapped in the bulk but metallic at the edge, to the Fulde–Ferrell (FF) state (having a phase-modulated order parameter with a uniform amplitude) and the Larkin–Ovchinnikov (LO) state (having a spatially varying order parameter amplitude). Here, we show that the topological FF state with Chern number (C=−1) (tFF₁) and topological LO state with C= 2 (tLO₂) can be stabilized in Rashba spin-orbit coupled lattice systems in the presence of both in-plane and out-of-plane Zeeman fields. Besides the inhomogeneous tSC states, in the presence of a weak in-plane Zeeman field, two topological BCS phases may emerge with C=−1 (tBCS₁) far from half filling and C= 2 (tBCS₂) near half filling. We show intriguing effects such as different spatial profiles of order parameters for FF and LO states, the topological evolution among inhomogeneous tSC states, and different non-trivial Chern numbers for the tFF₁ and tLO_1,2 states, which are peculiar to the lattice system. Global phase diagrams for various topological phases are presented for both half-filling and doped cases. The edge states as well as local density of states spectra are calculated for tSC states in a 2D strip.     

Adaptation of the Landau-Migdal quasiparticle pattern to strongly correlated Fermi systems

A quasiparticle pattern advanced in Landau’s first article on Fermi-liquid theory is adapted to elucidate the properties of a class of strongly correlated Fermi systems characterized by a Lifshitz phase diagram featuring a quantum critical point (QCP) where the density of states diverges. The necessary condition for stability of the Landau Fermi-Liquid state is shown to break down in such systems, triggering a cascade of topological phase transitions that lead, without symmetry violation, to states with multi-connected Fermi surfaces. The end point of this evolution is found to be an exceptional state whose spectrum of single-particle excitations exhibits a completely flat portion at zero temperature. Analysis of the evolution of the temperature dependence of the single-particle spectrum yields results that provide a natural explanation of classical behavior of this class of Fermi systems in the QCP region.     

Nodal d + id pairing and topological phases on the triangular lattice of Na(x)CoO(2).yH(2)O: evidence for an unconventional superconducting state

We show that finite angular momentum pairing chiral superconductors on the triangular lattice have point zeroes in the complex gap function. A topological quantum phase transition takes place through a nodal superconducting state at a specific carrier density x(c) where the normal state Fermi surface crosses the isolated zeros. For spin-singlet pairing, we show that the second-nearest-neighbor (d+id)-wave pairing can be the dominant pairing channel. The gapless critical state at x (c) approximately 0.25 has six Dirac points and is topologically nontrivial with a T3 spin relaxation rate below T(c). This picture provides a possible explanation for the unconventional superconducting state of Na(x)Co O(2). yH(2)O. Analyzing a pairing model with strong correlation using the Gutzwiller projection and symmetry arguments, we study these topological phases and phase transitions as a function of Na doping.     

Asymmetric two-component Fermion systems in strong coupling

We study the phase structure of a dilute two-component Fermi system with attractive interactions as a function of the coupling and a finite number asymmetry or polarization. In weak coupling, a number asymmetry results in phase separation. A mixed phase containing symmetric superfluid matter and an asymmetric normal phase is favored. For strong coupling we show that the stress on the superfluid phase to accommodate a number asymmetry increases. Near the infinite-scattering length, we calculate the single-particle excitation spectrum and the ground-state energy. A picture of weakly interacting quasiparticles emerges for modest polarizations. In this regime a homogeneous phase with a finite population of quasiparticle states characterized by a gapless spectrum is favored over the phase separated state. These states may be realized in cold atom experiments.     

Quantum phase transitions across a p-wave Feshbach resonance

We study a single-species polarized Fermi gas tuned across a narrow p-wave Feshbach resonance. We show that in the course of a Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)-BCS crossover, the system can undergo a magnetic-field-tuned quantum phase transition from a px-wave to a px+ipy-wave superfluid. The latter state, that spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry, furthermore undergoes a topological px+ipy to px+ipy transition at zero chemical potential mu. In two dimensions, for mu > 0 it is characterized by a Pfaffian ground state exhibiting topological order and non-Abelian excitations familiar from fractional quantum Hall systems.     

Dirac semimetal in three dimensions

We show that the pseudorelativistic physics of graphene near the Fermi level can be extended to three dimensional (3D) materials. Unlike in phase transitions from inversion symmetric topological to normal insulators, we show that particular space groups also allow 3D Dirac points as symmetry protected degeneracies. We provide criteria necessary to identify these groups and, as an example, present ab initio calculations of β-cristobalite BiO(2) which exhibits three Dirac points at the Fermi level. We find that β-cristobalite BiO(2) is metastable, so it can be physically realized as a 3D analog to graphene.     

Superfluid-superfluid phase transitions in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

Depending on the Hamiltonian parameters, two-component bosons in an optical lattice can form at least three different superfluid phases in which both components participate in the superflow: a (strongly interacting) mixture of two miscible superfluids (2SF), a paired superfluid (PSF) vacuum, and (at a commensurate total filling factor) the super-counter-fluid (SCF) state. We study the universal properties of the 2SF-PSF and 2SF-SCF quantum phase transitions and show that (i) they can be mapped onto each other and (ii) their universality class is identical to the (d+1)-dimensional normal-superfluid transition in a single-component liquid. The finite-temperature 2SF-PSF(SCF) transitions and the topological properties of 2SF-PSF(SCF) interfaces are also discussed.     

Interior gap superfluidity

We propose a new state of matter in which the pairing interactions carve out a gap within the interior of a large Fermi ball, while the exterior surface remains gapless. This defines a system which contains both a superfluid and a normal Fermi liquid simultaneously, with both gapped and gapless quasiparticle excitations. The universality class of this state can be realized at weak coupling. We predict that a cold mixture of two species of fermionic atoms with different mass will exhibit this state. For electrons in appropriate solids, it would define a material that is simultaneously superconducting and metallic.     

Cooper Molecules: Second Pairing of Cooper Pairs in Gapless Superconductor CeCoIn_5

We establish a quantum field theory of phase transitions in gapless superconductor CeCoIn5.It is found that uniform Cooper pair gases with pure gradient interactions with negative coefficient can undergo a BardeenCooper-Schrieffer (BCS) condensation below a critical temperature.In the BCS condensation state,bare Cooper pairs with opposite wave vectors are bound into Cooper molecules,and uncoupled bare Cooper pairs are transformed into a new kind of quasiparticle,i.e.,the dressed particles.The Cooper molecule s.ystem is a condensate or a superfluid,and the dressed particle s.ystem is a normal fluid.The critical temperature is derived anal.yticall.y.The critical temperature of the superconductor CeCoIn5 is obtained to be T_c = 2.289 K,which approaches the experimental data.The transition from the BCS condensation state to the normal state is a first-order phase transition.     

Antiferromagnetic order in Pauli-limited unconventional superconductors

We develop a theory of the coexistence of superconductivity (SC) and antiferromagnetism (AFM) in CeCoIn(5). We show that in Pauli-limited nodal superconductors the nesting of the quasiparticle pockets induced by Zeeman pair breaking leads to incommensurate AFM with the magnetic moment normal to the field. We compute the phase diagram and find a first order transition to the normal state at low temperatures, the absence of normal state AFM, and the coexistence of SC and AFM at high fields, in agreement with experiments. We also predict the existence of a new double-Q magnetic phase.