We investigate the low-energy scattering and bound states of two two-component fermionic atoms in pure two-dimensional (2D) and quasi-2D confinements with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We find that the SOC qualitatively changes the behavior of the 2D scattering amplitude in the low-energy limit. For quasi-2D systems we obtain the analytic expression for the effective 2D scattering amplitude and the algebraic equations for the two-atom bound-state energy. We further derive the effective 2D contact potential for the interaction between ultracold atoms in the quasi-2D confinement. This effective potential can be used in the research on many-body physics of quasi-2D ultracold Fermi gases with Rashba SOC.
In this Letter we address the issue of how synthetic spin-orbit (SO) coupling can strongly affect three-body physics in ultracold atomic gases. We consider a system which consists of three fermionic atoms, including two spinless heavy atoms and one spin-1/2 light atom subjected to an isotropic SO coupling. We find that SO coupling can induce universal three-body bound states with a negative s-wave scattering length at a smaller mass ratio, where no trimer bound state can exist if in the absence of SO coupling. The energies of these trimers are independent of the high-energy cutoff, and therefore they are universal ones. Moreover, the resulting atom-dimer resonance can be effectively controlled by SO coupling strength. Our results can be applied to systems like a 6Li and 40K mixture.
We derive the universal relations for an ultracold two-component Fermi gas with a spin-orbit coupling (SOC) ${\ensuremath{\sum}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\beta}=x,y,z}{\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\beta}}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}{p}_{\ensuremath{\beta}}$, where
px,y,z and ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{x,y,z}$ are the single-atom momentum and Pauli operators for pseudospin, respectively, and the SOC intensity ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\beta}}$ could take an arbitrary value. We consider the system with an
s-wave short-range interspecies interaction, and ignore the SOC-induced modification for the value of the scattering length. Using the first-quantized approach developed by Tan [S. Tan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 145302 (2011)], we obtain the short-range and high-momentum expansions for the one-body real-space correlation function and momentum distribution function, respectively. For our system these functions are a $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ matrix in the pseudospin basis. We find that the leading-order (
1/k4) behavior of the diagonal elements of the momentum distribution function, i.e., ${n}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}\ensuremath{\uparrow}}(\mathbf{k})$ and ${n}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}\ensuremath{\downarrow}}(\mathbf{k})$, are not modified by the SOC. However, the SOC can significantly modify the large-
k behaviors of the distribution difference $\ensuremath{\delta}n(\mathbf{k})\ensuremath{\equiv}{n}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}\ensuremath{\uparrow}}(\mathbf{k})\ensuremath{-}{n}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}\ensuremath{\downarrow}}(\mathbf{k})$ as well as the nondiagonal elements of the momentum distribution function, i.e., ${n}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}\ensuremath{\downarrow}}(\mathbf{k})$ and ${n}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}\ensuremath{\uparrow}}(\mathbf{k})$. In the absence of the SOC, the leading order of $\ensuremath{\delta}n(\mathbf{k})$, ${n}_{\ensuremath{\uparrow}\ensuremath{\downarrow}}(\mathbf{k})$, and ${n}_{\ensuremath{\downarrow}\ensuremath{\uparrow}}(\mathbf{k})$ is
O(1/k6). When SOC appears, it can induce a term on the order of
1/k5 for these elements. We further derive the adiabatic relation and the energy functional. Our results show that the SOC can induce an additional term in the energy functional, which describes the contribution from the SOC to the total energy. In addition, the form of the adiabatic relation for our system is not modified by the SOC. Our results are applicable for the systems with any type of single-atom trapping potential, which could be either diagonal or nondiagonal in the pseudospin basis.
We develop the contact theory for spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gases. By using a perturbation method, we derive analytically the universal two-body behavior at short distance, which does not depend on the short-range details of interatomic potentials. We find that two new scattering parameters need to be introduced because of spin-orbit coupling, besides the traditional s- and p-wave scattering length (volume) and effective ranges. This is a general and unique feature for spin-orbit-coupled systems. Consequently, two new adiabatic energy relations with respect to the new scattering parameters are obtained, in which a new contact is involved because of spin-orbit coupling. In addition, we derive the asymptotic behavior of the large-momentum distribution, and find that the subleading tail is corrected by the new contact. This work paves the way for exploring the profound properties of spin-orbit-coupled many-body systems, according to two-body solutions.
We present a comprehensive derivation of a set of universal relations for spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gases in three or two dimensions, which follow from the short-range behavior of the two-body physics. Besides the adiabatic energy relations, the large-momentum distribution, the grand canonical potential, and pressure relation derived in our previous work for three-dimensional systems [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 060408 (2018)], we further derive high-frequency tail of the radio-frequency spectroscopy and the short-range behavior of the pair correlation function. In addition, we also extend the derivation to two-dimensional systems with Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling. To simply demonstrate how the spin-orbit-coupling effect modifies the two-body short-range behavior, we solve the two-body problem in the sub-Hilbert space of zero center-of-mass momentum and zero total angular momentum, and we perturbatively take the spin-orbit-coupling effect into account at short distance, since the strength of the spin-orbit coupling should be much smaller than the corresponding scale of the finite range of interatomic interactions. The universal asymptotic forms of the two-body wave function at short distance are then derived, which are independent on the short-range details of interatomic potentials. We find that new scattering parameters emerge in the universal asymptotic forms, apart from the traditional
s- and
p-wave scattering length (volume) and effective ranges. This is a general and unique feature for spin-orbit-coupled systems. We show how these two-body parameters characterize the universal relations in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. This work probably sheds light on understanding the profound properties of the many-body quantum systems in the presence of the spin-orbit coupling.
We show that the Bethe-Peierls (BP) boundary condition should be modified for ultracold atoms with spin-orbit (SO) coupling. Moreover, we derive a general form of the modified BP boundary condition, which is applicable to a system with an arbitrary kind of SO coupling. In the modified BP condition, an anisotropic term appears and the interatomic scattering length is normally SO-coupling dependent. For the special system in the current experiments, however, it can be proved that the scattering length is SO-coupling independent, and it takes the same value as in the case without SO coupling. Our result is helpful for the study of both few-body and many-body physics in SO-coupled ultracold gases.