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arXiv:1505.07444 · Physical Review A

Topological phases via engineered orbital hybridization in noncentrosymmetric optical lattices

Bo Liu, Xiaopeng Li, W. Vincent Liu

Published Mar 23, 2016• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a symmetry-based method of using noncentrosymmetric optical lattices to systematically control topological nontrivial orbital hybridization. A crucial difference from the previous studies is the role of inversion symmetry breaking, which is applied to induce an exotic orbital-changing hopping perpendicular to the direction without inversion symmetry and opens a band gap, instead of reducing the codimension and producing gapless points. The orbital mixing here is reminiscent of the spin-orbit physics based on hyperfine states but differs in symmetry and origin. This nontrivial orbital hybridization produces a topological band structure. Attractively interacting fermionic atoms loaded in such a lattice are found to show an orbital topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid state in the presence of onsite rotation. This state supports Majorana fermions on its edges. Our mechanism should pave an alternative way to achieve orbital topological phases in optical lattices of nonstandard geometry.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.93.033643

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We propose a symmetry-based method of using noncentrosymmetric optical lattices to systematically control topological nontrivial orbital hybridization. A crucial difference from the previous studies is the role of inversion symmetry breaking, which is applied to induce an exotic orbital-changing hopping perpendicular to the direction without inversion symmetry and opens a band gap, instead of reducing the codimension and producing gapless points. The orbital mixing here is reminiscent of the spin-orbit physics based on hyperfine states but differs in symmetry and origin. This nontrivial orbital hybridization produces a topological band structure. Attractively interacting fermionic atoms loaded in such a lattice are found to show an orbital topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid state in the presence of onsite rotation. This state supports Majorana fermions on its edges. Our mechanism should pave an alternative way to achieve orbital topological phases in optical lattices of nonstandard geometry.
Recent advanced experimental implementations of optical lattices with highly tunable geometry open up new regimes for quantum many-body states of matter that previously had not been accessible. Here we introduce a symmetry-based method of utilizing the geometry of optical lattice to systematically control topologically non-trivial orbital hybridization. Such an orbital mixing leads to an unexpected and yet robust topological semimetal at single-particle level for a gas of fermionic atoms. When considering s-wave attractive interaction between atoms as for instance tuned by Feshbach resonance, topological superfluid state with high Chern number is unveiled in the presence of on-site rotation. This state supports chiral edge excitations, manifesting its topological nature. An experimental realization scheme is designed, which introduces a systematic way of achieving a new universality class (such as Chern number of 2) of orbital-hybridized topological phases beyond geometrically standard optical lattices.
Recent advanced experimental implementations of optical lattices with highly tunable geometry open up new regimes for exploring quantum many-body states of matter that had not been accessible previously. Here we report that a topological fermionic superfluid with higher Chern number emerges spontaneously from sss-wave spin-singlet pairing in an orbital optical lattice when its geometry is tuned to explicitly break reflection symmetry. Qualitatively distinct from the conventional scheme that relies on higher partial-wave pairing, the crucial ingredient of our model is topology originating from mixing higher Wannier orbitals. It leads to unexpected changes in the topological band structure at the single-particle level, i.e., the bands are transformed from possessing two flux-$\ensuremath{\pi}$ Dirac points into a single quadratic touching point with flux $2\ensuremath{\pi}$. Based on such engineered single-particle bands, spin-singlet pairing of ultracold fermions arising from standard sss-wave attractive interaction is found to induce higher Chern number (Chern number of 2) and topologically protected chiral edge modes, all occurring at a higher critical temperatures in relative scales, potentially circumventing one of the major obstacle for its realization in ultracold gases.
We propose a simple experimental scheme to realize simultaneously the one-dimensional spin-orbit coupling and the staggered spin flip in ultracold pseudospin-1/21/21/2 atomic Fermi gases trapped in optical lattices. In the absence of interspecies interactions, the system supports type-I and II Weyl semimetals in three-dimensional and gapped Chern insulators and gapless topological semimetal states in two-dimensional lattices. By turning on the sss-wave interactions, a rich variety of gapped and gapless inhomogeneous topological superfluids can emerge. In particular, a gapped topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid, which supports the chiral edge states at opposite boundaries with the same chirality, is predicted.
Topological superfluid is an exotic state of quantum matter that possesses a nodeless superfluid gap in the bulk and Andreev edge modes at the boundary of a finite system. Here, we study a multi-orbital superfluid driven by an attractive s -wave interaction in a rotating optical lattice. Interestingly, we find that the rotation induces the inter-orbital hybridization and drives the system into topological orbital superfluid in accordance with intrinsically chiral d -wave pairing characteristics. Thanks to the conservation of spin, the topological orbital superfluid supports four rather than two chiral Andreev edge modes at the boundary of the lattice. Moreover, we find that the intrinsic harmonic confining potential forms a circular spatial barrier which accumulates atoms and supports a mass current under the injection of small angular momentum as an external driving force. This feature provides an experimentally detectable phenomenon to verify the topological orbital superfluid with chiral d -wave order in a rotating optical lattice.
Topological superfluids usually refer to a superfluid state which is gapped in the bulk but metallic at the boundary. Here we report that a gapless, topologically nontrivial superfluid with an inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell pairing order parameter can emerge in a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas, in the presence of both in-plane and out-of-plane Zeeman fields. The Fulde-Ferrell pairing-induced by the spin-orbit coupling and in-plane Zeeman field-is responsible for this gapless feature. This exotic superfluid has a significant Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature and has robust Majorana edge modes against disorder owing to its topological nature.
Topological superfluids are recently discovered quantum matter that hosts topologically protected gapless edge states known as Majorana fermions---exotic quantum particles that act as their own antiparticles and obey non-Abelian statistics. Their realizations are believed to lie at the heart of future technologies such as fault-tolerant quantum computation. To date, the most efficient scheme to create topological superfluids and Majorana fermions is based on the Sau-Lutchyn-Tewari-Das Sarma model with a Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling on the x-y plane and a large out-of-plane (perpendicular) Zeeman field along the z direction. Here we propose an alternative setup, where the topological superfluid phase is driven by applying an in-plane Zeeman field. This scheme offers a number of different features, notably Cooper pairings at finite center-of-mass momentum (i.e., Fulde-Ferrell pairing) and gapless excitations in the bulk. As a result, gapless topological quantum matter with an inhomogeneous pairing order parameter appears. It features unidirectional Majorana surface states at boundaries, which propagate in the same direction and connect two Weyl nodes in the bulk. We demonstrate the emergence of such exotic topological matter and the associated Majorana fermions in spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gases, and we determine its parameter space. The implementation of our scheme in semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures is briefly discussed.