The realization of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in ultracold atoms has triggered an intensive exploring of topological superfluids in the degenerate Fermi gases based on mean-field theory, which has not yet been reported in experiments. Here, we demonstrate the topological phase transitions in the system via the numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo method. Without prior assumptions, our unbiased real-space calculation shows that spin-orbit coupling can stabilize an unconventional pairing in the weak SOC regime, in which the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov pairing coexists with the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing. Furthermore, we use the jumps in the spin polarization at the time-reversal invariant momenta to qualify the topological phase transition, where we find the critical exponent deviated from the mean-field theory. Our results pave the way for the searching of unconventional pairing and topological superfluids with degenerate Fermi gases.
We present a closed-form expression for the time dynamics of a balanced Fermi superfluid with s-wave pairing and Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling. Solving the associated self-consistency conditions for an initial number density given by a Gaussian and an initial gap containing a vortex dipole, we show that Rashba SO coupling results in precession of the vortex dipole. The integrated self-consistent gap decays as a function of time, characterising a "transient Fermi superfluid". Our analytic solution forms a starting point for studies of vortex dynamics -- in particular braiding of Majorana ferm…
We theoretically investigate the inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell (FF) superfluidity in a three dimensional atomic Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling near a broad Feshbach resonance. We show that within mean-field theory the FF superfluid state is always more favorable than the standard Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid state when an in-plane Zeeman field is applied. We present a qualitative finite-temperature phase diagram near resonance and argue that the predicted FF superfluid is observable with experimentally attainable temperatures (i.e., $T\sim0.2T_{F}$, where $T_{F}$ is the …
We present a theoretical study of the superfluidity and the corresponding collective modes in two-component atomic Fermi gases with 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…
We analyze the effects of in- and out-of-plane Zeeman fields on the BCS-BEC evolution of a Fermi gas with equal Rashba-Dresselhaus (ERD) spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We show that the ground state of the system involves novel gapless superfluid phases that can be distinguished with respect to the topology of the momentum-space regions with zero excitation energy. For the BCS-like uniform superfluid phases with zero center-of-mass momentum, the zeros may correspond to one or two doubly-degenerate spheres, two or four spheres, two or four concave spheroids, or one or two doubly-degenerate circles, …
Fermi gases with generalized Rashba spin orbit coupling inducedby a synthetic gauge field have the potential of realizing many interesting states such as rashbon condensates and topological phases. Here we develop a fluctuation theory of such systems and demonstrate that beyond-Gaussian effects are essential to capture the physics of such systems. We obtain their phase diagram by constructing an approximate non-Gaussian theory. We conclusively establish that spin-orbit coupling can enhance the exponentially small transition temperature ($T_c$) of a weakly attracting superfluid to the order of …
We theoretically analyze the pairing instability of a three-dimensional ultracold atomic Fermi gas towards a Fulde-Ferrell superfluid, in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and in-plane Zeeman field. We use the standard Thouless criterion for the onset of superfluidity, with which the effect of pair fluctuations is partially taken into account by approximately using a mean-field chemical potential at zero temperature. This gives rise to an improved prediction of the superfluid transition temperature beyond mean-field, particularly in the strong-coupling unitary limit. We also investiga…
Based on the two-dimensional (2D) attractive Fermi-Hubbard model with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the SOC strength and Zeeman field dependences of the phase diagram are investigated by calculating the pairing gap self-consistently. The results reveal that the phase transition from the BCS superfluid to the topological superfluid happens under proper Zeeman field strength and SOC strength. In particular, in contrast to the BCS superfluid decreasing monotonically as the SOC strength increasing, the topological superfluid region shows a dome with the SOC strength increasing. An optimal regi…
The topological superfluids with Majorana zero modes have not yet been realized in ultracold atoms with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Here we show that these phases can be realized with an artificial gauge potential, which can be regarded as a site-dependent rotating Zeeman field. This potential breaks the inversion symmetry and plays the same role as Rashba spin-orbit coupling. In the inverted bands, this model can open a proper parameter regime for topological superfluids. Strikingly, we find that the interaction near the Fermi surface is dominated by the dispersion scattering in the same band…
We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a superfluid Fermi gas subject to Rashba spin-orbit coupling and effective Zeeman field. We adopt a T-matrix scheme that takes beyond-mean-field effects, which are important for strongly interacting systems, into account. We focus on the calculation of two important quantities: the superfluid transition temperature and the isothermal compressibility. Our calculation shows very distinct influences of the out-of-plane and the in-plane Zeeman fields on the Fermi gas. We also confirm that the in-plane Zeeman field induces a Fulde-Ferrell superfluid be…
We analyze the interplay of adiabatic rotation and Rashba spin-orbit coupling on the BCS-BEC evolution of a harmonically-trapped Fermi gas in two dimensions under the assumption that vortices are not excited. First, by taking the trapping potential into account via both the semi-classical and exact quantum-mechanical approaches, we firmly establish the parameter regime where the non-interacting gas forms a ring-shaped annulus. Then, by taking the interactions into account via the BCS mean-field approximation, we study the pair-breaking mechanism that is induced by rotation, i.e., the Coriolis …
We explore the trap profiles of a two-dimensional atomic Fermi gas in the presence of a Rashba spin-orbit coupling and under an adiabatic rotation. We first consider a non-interacting gas and show that the competition between the effects of Rashba coupling on the local density of single-particle states and the Coriolis effects caused by rotation gives rise to a characteristic ring-shaped density profile that survives at experimentally-accessible temperatures. Furthermore, Rashba splitting of the Landau levels takes the density profiles on a ziggurat shape in the rapid-rotation limit. We then c…
Under the self-consistent mean-field approach for the BCS-BEC crossover problem, we derive a closed-form analytical expression for the general spin response of noncentrosymmetric Fermi superfluids with arbitrary spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman fields. In addition to the paramagnetic, i.e., the Pauli intra-helicity and Van Vleck type inter-helicity, contributions to the spin-susceptibility tensor that have normal-state counterparts, we identify a diamagnetic inter-helicity contribution that is unique to the superfluid state. Our extensive numerical calculations for the Weyl, Rashba and equal Ras…
We use the Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism to analyze harmonically trapped Fermi gases with Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling in two dimensions. We consider both population-balanced and -imbalanced Fermi gases throughout the BCS-BEC evolution, and study the effects of spin-orbit coupling on the spontaneously induced countercirculating mass currents and the associated intrinsic angular momentum. In particular, we find that even a small spin-orbit coupling destabilizes Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO)-type spatially modulated superfluid phases as well as the phase-separated states against the…
We investigate the pair condensation of a two-spin-component Fermi gas in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. We calculate the condensate fraction in the BCS-BEC crossover both in two and in three dimensions by taking into account singlet and triplet pairings. These quantities are studied by varying the spin-orbit interaction from the case with the only Rashba to the equal-Rashba-Dresselhaus one. We find that, by mixing the two couplings, the singlet pairing decreases while the triplet pairing is suppressed in the BCS regime and increased in the BEC regime, both i…
We discuss the creation of parity violating Fermi superfluids in the presence of non-Abelian gauge fields involving spin-orbit coupling and crossed Zeeman fields. We focus on spin-orbit coupling with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus (ERD) strengths which has been realized experimentally in ultra-cold atoms, but we also discuss the case of arbitrary mixing of Rashba and Dresselhaus (RD) and of Rashba-only (RO) spin-orbit coupling. To illustrate the emergence of parity violation in the superfluid, we analyze first the excitation spectrum in the normal state and show that the generalized helicity ban…
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 $E_{\text B}$ and effective mass $m_{\text B}$ 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…
Searching for the first topological superfluid (TSF) remains a primary goal of modern science. Here we study the system of attractively interacting fermions hopping in a square lattice with any linear combinations of Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in a normal Zeeman field. By imposing self-consistence equations at half filling, we find there are 3 phases: Band insulator ( BI ), Superfluid (SF) and Topological superfluid (TSF) with a Chern number $ C=2 $. The $ C=2 $ TSF happens in small Zeeman fields and weak interactions which is in the experimentally most easily accessible r…
We study the BCS-Bose Einstein Condensation (BEC) crossover of a three dimensional spin polarized Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbital-coupling (SOC). At finite temperature, the effects of non-condensed pairs due to the thermal excitation are considered based on the $G_0G$ pair fluctuation theory. These fluctuations generate a pseudogap even persistent above $T_c$. Within this framework, the Sarma state or the spin polarized superfluid state and polarized pseudogap state are explored in detail. The resulting $T_c$ curves show that the enhancement of pairing due to the SOC roughly cancels out the…
We discuss the evolution from BCS to BEC superfluids in the presence of spin-orbit coupling, and show that this evolution is just a crossover in the balanced case. The dependence of several thermodynamic properties, such as the chemical potential, order parameter, pressure, entropy, isothermal compressibility and spin susceptibility tensor on the spin-orbit coupling and interaction parameter at low temperatures are analyzed. We studied both the case of equal Rashba and Dresselhaus (ERD) and the Rashba-only (RO) spin-orbit coupling. Comparisons between the two cases reveal several striking diff…
We study pairing formation and the appearance of induced spin-triplet p-wave superfluidity in dilute three-dimensional imbalanced Fermi gases in the presence of a uniform non-Abelian gauge field. This gauge field generates a synthetic Rashba-type spin-orbit interaction which has remarkable consequences in the induced p-wave pairing gaps. Without the synthetic gauge field, the p-wave pairing occurs in one of the components due to the induced (second-order) interaction via an exchange of density fluctuations in the other component. We show that this p-wave superfluid gap induced by density fluct…
Synthetic non-Abelian gauge fields in cold atom systems produce a Rashba spin-orbit interaction described by a vector $\blam = (λ_x, λ_y, λ_z)$. It was recently shown [Phys. Rev. B 84, 014512 (2011)] that on increasing $λ= |\blam|$, fermions at a finite density $ρ\approx\kf^3$ evolve to a BEC like state even in the presence of a weak attractive interaction (described by a scattering length $\as$). The BEC obtained at large spin-orbit coupling ($λ\gg k_F$) is a condensate of rashbons -- novel bosonic bound pairs of fermions whose properties are determined solely by the gauge field. Here we stud…
We theoretically investigate a three-dimensional Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the presence of both out-of-plane and in-plane Zeeman fields. We show that, driven by a sufficiently large Zeeman field, either out-of-plane or in-plane, the superfluid phase of this system exhibits a number of interesting features, including inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell pairing, gapped or gapless topological order and exotic quasi-particle excitations known as Weyl fermions that have linear energy dispersions in momentum space (i.e., massless Dirac fermions). The topological superfluid phase can have …
We examine two dimensional mixture of single-component fermions and dipolar bosons. We calculate the self-enregies of the fermions in the normal state and the Cooper pair channel by including first order vertex correction to derive a modified Eliashberg equation. We predict appearance of superfluids with various non-standard pairing symmetries at experimentally feasible transition temperatures within the strong-coupling limit of the Eliashberg equation. Excitations in these superfluids are anyonic and follow non-Abelian statistics.
In this work, a Josephson relation is generalized to a multi-component fermion superfluid. Superfluid density is expressed through a two-particle Green function for pairing channels. When the system has only one gapless collective excitation mode, the Josephson relation is simplified, which is given in terms of the order parameters and the trace of two-particle Green functions. In the presence of inversion symmetry, the superfluid density is directly related to the inverse of pairing fluctuation matrix. The results of the superfluid density in Haldane model show that the generalized Josephson …
We investigate theoretically BEC-BCS crossover physics in the presence of a Rashba spin-orbit coupling in a system of two-component Fermi gas with and without a Zeeman field that breaks the population balance between the two components. A new bound state (Rashba pair) emerges because of the spin-orbit interaction. We study the properties of Rashba pairs using a standard pair fluctuation theory. At zero temperature, the Rashba pairs condense into a macroscopic mixed spin state. We discuss in detail the experimental signatures for observing the condensation of Rashba pairs by calculating various…
We investigate the zero-temperature properties of a quasi-ideal Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We find that the spin-orbit term strongly affects the speeds of zero sound and first sound in the Fermi gas, due to the presence of a third-order quantum phase transition. In addition, including a 2D harmonic confinement we show that also the shape of the density profile of the cloud crucially depends on the strength of the Rashba coupling.
Hydrodynamic theory of the spinor BEC condensate with Rashba spin-orbit coupling is presented. A close mathematical analogy of the Rashba-BEC model to the recently developed theory of chiral magnetism is found. Hydrodynamic equations for mass density, superfluid velocity, and the local magnetization are derived. The mass current is shown to contain an extra term proportional to the magnetization direction, as a result of the Rashba coupling. Elementary excitations around the two known ground states of the Rashba-BEC Hamiltonian, the plane-wave and the stripe states, are worked out in the hydro…
We obtain the superfluid transition temperature of equal Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit and Rabi-coupled Fermi superfluids, from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) regimes in three dimensions for tunable $s$-wave interactions. In the presence of Rabi coupling, we find that spin-orbit coupling enhances (reduces) the critical temperature in the BEC (BCS) limit. For fixed interactions, we show that spin-orbit coupling can convert a first-order (discontinuous) phase transition into a second-order (continuous) phase transition, as a function of Rabi coupling. We de…
We theoretically investigate superfluidity in a strongly interacting Fermi gas confined to two dimensions at finite temperature. Using a Gaussian pair fluctuation theory in the superfluid phase, we calculate the superfluid density and determine the critical temperature and chemical potential at the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. We propose that the transition can be unambiguously demonstrated in cold-atom experiments by stirring the superfluid Fermi gas using a red detuned laser beam, to identify the characteristic jump in the local Landau critical velocity at the superfluid-norma…
Pairing between fermions that attract each other, reveal itself to the macroscopic world in the form of superfluidity. Since the discovery of fermionic superfluidity, intense search has been going on to find various unconventional forms of fermion pairing as well as to increase the transition temperature. Here, we show that a two dimensional mixture of single-component fermions and dipolar bosons allows to reach experimentally feasible superfluid transition temperatures for non-standard pairing symmetries. Excitations in these superfluids are anyonic and their statistics depends on the order o…
We theoretically predict an exotic topological superfluid state with spatially modulated pairing gap in one-dimensional spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gases. This inhomogeneous topological superfluidity is induced by applying simultaneously a perpendicular Zeeman magnetic field and an equally weighted Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in one-dimensional optical lattices. Based on the self-consistent Bogoliubov--de Gennes theory, we confirm that this novel topological phase is a unique condensation of Cooper pairs, which manifests the interplay between the inhomogeneity of superfluid and its…
In this letter we show that the vortex lattice structure in the Bose-Fermi superfluid mixture can undergo a sequence of structure transitions when the Fermi superfluid is tuned from the BCS regime to the BEC regime. This is due to different vortex core structure of the Fermi superfluid in the BCS regime and in the BEC regime. In the former the vortex core is nearly filled, while the density at the vortex core gradually decreases until it empties out at the BEC regime. Therefore, with the density-density interaction between the Bose and the Fermi superfluids, the two sets of vortex lattices int…
We investigate superfluid properties of a one-component Fermi gas with a uniaxially anisotropic $p$-wave pairing interaction, $U_x>U_y=U_z$ (where $U_i$ ($i=x,y,z)$ is a $p_i$-wave pairing interaction). This type of interaction is considered to be realized in a $^{40}$K Fermi gas. Including pairing fluctuations within a strong-coupling $T$-matrix theory, we determine the $p_x$-wave superfluid phase transition temperature $T^{p_x}_{\rm c}$, as well as the other phase transition temperature $T_{\rm c}^{p_x+ip_y}$ ($<T_{\rm c}^{p_x}$), below which the superfluid order parameter has the $p_x+ip_y$…
We study interacting Rashba-Dresselhaus fermions in two spatial dimensions. First, we present a new exact solution to the two-particle pairing problem of spin-orbit-coupled fermions for arbitrary Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. An exact molecular wave function and the Green function are explicitly derived along with the binding energy and the spectrum of the molecular state. In the second part, we consider a thermal Boltzmann gas of fermionic molecules and compute the time-of-flight velocity and spin distributions for a single fermion in the gas. We show that the pairing signat…
We investigate the new physics that arises when a correlated quantum impurity hybridizes with Fermi gas with a generalized Rashba spin-orbit coupling produced via a uniform synthetic non-Abelian gauge field. We show that the impurity develops a {\it fractional} local moment which couples anti-ferromagnetically to the Rashba-Fermi gas. This results in a concomitant {\it Kondo effect with a high temperature scale} that can be tuned by the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling.
We investigate the Gorkov--Melik-Barkhudarov (GM) correction to superfluid transition temperature in two-dimensional Fermi gases with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) across the SOC-driven BCS-BEC crossover. In the calculation of the induced interaction, we find that the spin-component mixing due to SOC can induce both of the conventional screening and additional antiscreening contributions that interplay significantly in the strong SOC regime. While the GM correction generally lowers the estimate of transition temperature, it turns out that at a fixed weak interaction, the correction effect e…
We consider the effect of a momentum kick on the ground state of a non-interacting two-dimensional Fermi gas subject to Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Although the total momentum is a constant of motion, the gas does not obey the rules of Galilean relativity. Upon imprinting a small overall velocity to the non-interacting gas, we find that the Fermi sea is deformed in a non-trivial way. We also consider a weakly repulsive Fermi gas, and find, from its Hartree shift, that the total ground state of the system may change into a deformed, finite momentum ground state as the repulsion is increased bey…
We obtain the superfluid transition temperature of equal Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit and Rabi coupled Fermi superfluids, from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) regimes in three dimensions. Spin-orbit coupling enhances the critical temperature in the BEC limit, and can convert a first order phase transition in the presence of Rabi coupling into second order, as a function of the Rabi coupling for fixed interactions. We derive the Ginzburg-Landau equation to sixth power in the superfluid order parameter to describe both first and second order transitions as …
The z axis magnetization of a two dimensional electron gas with contact repulsive interaction and in presence of a Rashba potential is computed by means of quantum field theory at second order. A striking effect of the pure Rashba interaction is that of hindering spin alignment along the z direction. Evidence of transition at critical repulsive interaction coupling constant is still found. The degree of magnetization, however, shows a clear dependence on the spin-orbit interaction strength. Furthermore, the transition to magnetized state appears to be smoothed by the presence of the Rashba int…
We consider the time evolution of the magnetization in a Rashba spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas, starting from a fully-polarized initial state. We model the dynamics using a Boltzmann equation, which we solve in the Hartree-Fock approximation. The resulting non-linear system of equations gives rise to three distinct dynamical regimes with qualitatively different asymptotic behaviors of the magnetization at long times. The distinct regimes and the transitions between them are controlled by the interaction strength: for weakly interacting fermions, the magnetization decays to zero. For intermediate…
Motivated by the prospect of realizing a Fermi gas of $^{40}$K atoms with a synthetic non-Abelian gauge field, we investigate theoretically a strongly interacting Fermi gas in the presence of a Rashba spin-orbit coupling. As the two-fold spin degeneracy is lifted by spin-orbit interaction, bound pairs with mixed singlet and triplet pairings (referred to as rashbons) emerge, leading to an anisotropic superfluid. We show that this anisotropic superfluidity can be probed via measuring the momentum distribution and single-particle spectral function in a trapped atomic $^{40}$K cloud near a Feshbac…
The recent experimental realization of spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases provides a unique opportunity to study the interplay between strong interaction and SOC in a tunable, disorder-free system. We present here precision ab initio numerical results on the two-dimensional, unpolarized, uniform Fermi gas with attractive interactions and Rashba SOC. Using auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo and incorporating recent algorithmic advances, we carry out exact calculations on sufficiently large system sizes to provide accurate results systematically as a function of experimental parameters. We obtain t…
We consider interacting ultracold fermions subject to Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We construct a single-branch interacting theory for the Fermi gas when the system is dilute enough so that the positive helicity branch is not occupied at all in the non-interacting ground state. We show that the theory is renormalizable in perturbation theory and therefore yields a model of polarized fermions that avoids a multi-channel treatment of the problem. Our results open the path towards a much more straightforward approach to the many-body physics of cold atoms subject to artificial vector potentials.
How ferromagnetic phases emerge in itinerant systems is an outstanding problem in quantum magnetism. Here we consider a repulsive two-component Fermi gas confined in a two dimensional isotropic harmonic potential and subject to a large Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling, whose single-particle dispersion can be tailored by adjusting the SO coupling strength. We show that the interplay among SO coupling, correlation effects and mean-field repulsion leads to a competition between ferromagnetic and non-magnetic phases. At intermediate interaction strengths, ferromagnetic phase emerges which can be we…
We explore novel features of a nonrelativistic fermionic superfluid in which the pairing interaction includes a contribution from the exchange of a dynamical bosonic mode. We show that the dynamical boson exchange (DBE), which causes a retarded pairing interaction and thus violates the Galilean invariance of the fermion sector, generically leads to a quantum reduction of the superfluid density and hence a nonzero normal fraction even at zero temperature. For spin-singlet pairing, the DBE also leads to a nonvanishing spin susceptibility at zero temperature, providing a mechanism for the coexist…
We investigate the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in a two-dimensional (2D) Fermi gas with spin-orbit coupling (SOC), as a function of the two-body binding energy and a perpendicular Zeeman field. By including a generic form of the SOC, as a function of Rashba and Dresselhaus terms, we study the evolution between the experimentally relevant equal Rashba-Dresselhaus (ERD) case and the Rashba-only (RO) case. We show that in the ERD case, at fixed non-zero Zeeman field, the BKT transition temperature $T_{BKT}$ is increased by the effect of SOC for all values of the binding energ…
The coupling between a quantum particle's intrinsic angular momentum and its center-of-mass motion gives rise to the so-called helicity states that are characterized by the projection of the spin onto the direction of momentum. In this paper, by unfolding the superfluid-density tensor into its intra-helicity and inter-helicity components, we reveal that the latter contribution is directly linked with the total quantum metric of the helicity bands. We consider both Rashba and Weyl spin-orbit couplings across the BCS-BEC crossover, and show that the geometrical inter-helicity contribution is res…
We derive the underlying finite temperature theory which describes Fermi gas superfluidity with population imbalance in a homogeneous system. We compute the pair formation temperature and superfluid transition temperature $T_c$ and superfluid density in a manner consistent with the standard ground state equations, and thereby present a complete phase diagram. Finite temperature stabilizes superfluidity, as manifested by two solutions for $T_c$, or by low $T$ instabilities. At unitarity the polarized state is an ``intermediate temperature superfluid".
Achieving a higher superfluid transition $T_c$ has been a goal for the fields of superconductivity and atomic Fermi gases. Here we propose that, by using mixed dimensionality, one may achieve ultra high temperature superfluids in two component atomic Fermi gases, where one component feels a regular three-dimensional (3D) continuum space, while the other is subject to a 1D optic lattice potential. Via tuning the lattice spacing and trap depth, one can effectively raise the Fermi level dramatically upon pairing so that superfluidity may occur at an ultra high temperature (in units of Fermi energ…
We analyse a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) mixed with a superfluid two-component Fermi gas in the whole BCS-BEC cross-over. Using a quasiparticle random phase approximation combined with Beliaev theory to describe the Fermi superfluid and the BEC respectively, we show that the single particle and collective excitations of the Fermi gas give rise to an induced interaction between the bosons, which varies strongly with momentum and frequency. It diverges at the sound mode of the Fermi superfluid, resulting in a sharp avoided crossing feature and a corresponding sign change of the interaction en…
We investigate the effects of topological order on the transition temperature, $T_c$, and response functions in fermionic superfluids with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a transverse Zeeman field in three dimensions. Our calculations, relevant to the ultracold atomic Fermi gases, include fluctuations beyond mean-field theory and are compatible with $f$-sum rules. Reminiscent of the $p_x + i p_y$ superfluid, the topological phase is stabilized when driven away from the Bose-Einstein condensation and towards the BCS limit. Accordingly, while experimentally accessible, $T_c$ is significantly supp…
We investigate the possibility of superfluid/ferromagnet/superfluid (SFS)-junction in a superfluid Fermi gas. To examine this possibility in a simple manner, we consider an attractive Hubbard model at $T=0$ within the mean-field theory. When a potential barrier is embedded in a superfluid Fermi gas with population imbalance ($N_\uparrow>N_\downarrow$, where $N_σ$ is the number of atoms with pseudospin $σ=\uparrow,\downarrow$), this barrier is shown to be {\it magnetized} in the sense that excess $\uparrow$-spin atoms are localized around it. The resulting superfluid Fermi gas is spatially divi…
Motivated by the remarkable experimental control of synthetic gauge fields in ultracold atomic systems, we investigate the effect of an artificial Rashba spin-orbit coupling on the spin polarization of a two-dimensional repulsive Fermi gas. By using a variational many-body wavefunction, based on a suitable spinorial structure, we find that the polarization properties of the system are indeed controlled by the interplay between spin-orbit coupling and repulsive interaction. In particular, two main effects are found: 1) The Rashba coupling determines a gradual increase of the degree of polarizat…
The so-called quantum metric tensor is a band-structure invariant whose measure corresponds to the quantum distance between nearby states in the Hilbert space, characterizing the geometry of the underlying quantum states. In the context of spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases, we recently proposed that the quantum metric has a partial control over all those superfluid properties that depend explicitly on the mass of the superfluid carriers, i.e., the effective-mass tensor of the corresponding (two- or many-body) bound state. Here we scrutinize this finding by analyzing the collective phase and ampli…
The key feature of time-dependent dynamics in a paired Fermi superfluid is the presence of a large number of independent degrees of freedom---the pairing amplitudes of fermions with different momenta. We argue that useful prototypes of this dynamics come from D-brane constructions of string theory. Using a specific example of that kind, we identify the mechanism by which a strongly coupled Fermi superfluid relaxes to equilibrium; it involves a wave of excitation in the momentum space, propagating from the Fermi surface towards the ultraviolet. For a sudden quench induced by a change in the fer…
