We propose a theoretical idea to reach the
p-wave superfluid phase in an ultracold Fermi gas. The key of our idea is that the pairing symmetry of a Fermi superfluid is fully dominated by the symmetry of the superfluid order parameter, which is essentially given by the product of a pair amplitude and a pairing interaction. Noting this, in our proposal, we first prepare a
p-wave pair amplitude not by using a
p-wave interaction, but by using the phenomenon that a
p-wave pair amplitude is induced in an
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas with antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction. In this case, although the system is still in the
s-wave superfluid state with the
s-wave superfluid order parameter, when one suddenly replaces the
s-wave interaction by an appropriate
p-wave one (which is possible in cold Fermi gases by using a Feshbach resonance technique), the product of the
p-wave interaction and the
p-wave pair amplitude that has already been prepared in the spin-orbit-coupled
s-wave superfluid state immediately gives a finite
p-wave superfluid order parameter. Thus, at least just after this manipulation, the system is in the
p-wave superfluid state, being characterized by the artificially produced
p-wave superfluid parameter. In this paper, to assess our idea, we evaluate the
p-wave pair amplitude in a spin-orbit-coupled
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas at
T=0. We determine the region where a large
p-wave pair amplitude is obtained in the phase diagram with respect to the strengths of the
s-wave pairing interaction and the spin-orbit coupling. We also discuss the accessibility of this optimal region on the viewpoint of the superfluid phase transition temperature. Since the achievement of a
p-wave superfluid Fermi gas is one of the most crucial issues in cold-atom physics, our proposal would be useful for this exciting challenge.
We theoretically investigate a spin-orbit-coupled
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas, to examine the time evolution of the system, after an
s-wave pairing interaction is replaced by a
p-wave one at
t=0. In our recent paper [T. Yamaguchi, D. Inotani, and Y. Ohashi, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 86, 013001 (2017)], we proposed that this manipulation may realize a
p-wave superfluid Fermi gas because the
p-wave pair amplitude that is induced in the
s-wave superfluid state by a parity-broken antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction gives a nonvanishing
p-wave superfluid order parameter, immediately after the
p-wave interaction is turned on. In this paper, using a time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory, we assess this idea under various conditions with respect to the
s-wave and
p-wave interaction strengths, as well as the spin-orbit coupling strength. From these, we clarify that the momentum distribution of Fermi atoms in the initial
s-wave state (
t<0) is a key to produce a large
p-wave superfluid order parameter. Since the realization of a
p-wave superfluid state is one of the most exciting and difficult challenges in cold Fermi gas physics, our results may provide a possible way to accomplish this.
We extend our recent work [Y. Endo et al., Phys. Rev. A 92, 023610 (2015)] for a parity-mixing effect in a model of two-dimensional lattice fermions to a realistic three-dimensional ultracold Fermi gas. Including effects of broken local spatial inversion symmetry by a trap potential within the framework of the real-space Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory at
T=0, we point out that an odd-parity
p-wave Cooper-pair amplitude is expected to have already been realized in previous experiments on an (even-parity)
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas with spin imbalance. This indicates that when one suddenly changes the
s-wave pairing interaction to an appropriate
p-wave one by using a Feshbach technique in this case, a nonvanishing
p-wave superfluid order parameter is immediately obtained, which is given by the product of the
p-wave interaction and the
p-wave pair amplitude that has already been induced in the spin-imbalanced
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas. Thus, by definition, the system is in the
p-wave superfluid state, at least just after this manipulation. Since the achievement of a
p-wave superfluid state is one of the most exciting challenges in cold Fermi gas physics, our results may provide an alternative approach to this unconventional pairing state. In addition, since the parity-mixing effect cannot be explained as far as one deals with a trap potential in the local density approximation (LDA), it is considered as a crucial example which requires us to go beyond the LDA.
We investigate the possibility that the broken spatial inversion symmetry caused by a trap potential induces a spin-triplet Cooper pair amplitude in an
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas. Based on symmetry considerations, we clarify that this phenomenon may occur, when a spin rotation symmetry of the system is also broken. We also numerically confirm that a triplet pair amplitude is actually induced under this condition, using a simple model. Our results imply that this phenomenon is already present in a trapped
s-wave superfluid Fermi gas with spin imbalance. As an interesting application of this phenomenon, we point out that one may produce a
p-wave superfluid Fermi gas by suddenly changing the
s-wave pairing interaction to a
p-wave one by using the Feshbach resonance technique. Since a Cooper pair is usually classified into a spin-singlet (and even-parity) state and a spin-triplet (and odd-parity) state, our results would be useful in considering how to mix them with each other in a superfluid Fermi gas. Such an admixture has recently attracted much attention in the field of noncentrosymmetric superconductivity, so that our results would also contribute to the further development of this research field, from the viewpoint of cold Fermi gas physics.
We investigate the superfluid properties of a one-component Fermi gas with a uniaxially anisotropic
p-wave pairing interaction,
Ux>Uy=Uz [where
Ui(i=x,y,z) is a
pi-wave pairing interaction]. This type of interaction is considered to be realized in a
40K Fermi gas. Including pairing fluctuations within a strong-coupling
T-matrix theory, we determine the
px-wave superfluid phase transition temperature
Tcpx, as well as the other phase transition temperature
Tcpx+ipy(<Tcpx), below which the superfluid order parameter has the
px+ipy-wave symmetry. In the normal state near
Tcpx,px-wave pairing fluctuations are shown to induce an anisotropic pseudogap phenomenon, where a dip structure in the angle-resolved density of states around $\ensuremath{\omega}=0$ is the most remarkable in the
px direction. In the
px-wave superfluid phase $({T}_{\mathrm{c}}^{{p}_{x}+i{p}_{y}}<T\ensuremath{\le}{T}_{\mathrm{c}}^{{p}_{x}})$, while the pseudogap in the
px direction continuously changes to the superfluid gap, the pseudogap in the perpendicular direction to the
px axis is found to continue developing because of enhanced
py-wave and
pz-wave pairing fluctuations around the node of the
px-wave superfluid order parameter. Since pairing fluctuations are always suppressed in the isotropic
s-wave superfluid state, this phenomenon is peculiar to an unconventional Fermi superfluid with a nodal superfluid order parameter. Since the
p-wave Fermi superfluid is the most promising non-
s-wave pairing state in an ultracold Fermi gas, our results would contribute to understanding how the anisotropic pairing fluctuations, as well as the existence of plural superfluid phases, affect many-body properties of this unconventional Fermi superfluid.
Unconventional superconductivity and superfluidity are among the most exciting and fascinating quantum phenomena in condensed-matter physics. Usually such states are characterized by nontrivial spin or spatial symmetry of the pairing order parameter, such as ``spin triplet'' or ``
p wave.'' However, besides spin and spatial dependence the order parameter may have unconventional frequency dependence which is also permitted by Fermi-Dirac statistics. Odd-frequency fermionic pairing is an exciting paradigm when discussing exotic superfluidity or superconductivity and is yet to be realized in experiments. In this paper we propose a symmetry-based method of controlling frequency dependence of the pairing order parameter via manipulating the inversion symmetry of the system. First, a toy model is introduced to illustrate that frequency dependence of the order parameter can be achieved through our proposed approach. Second, by taking advantage of recent rapid developments in producing spin-orbit-coupled dispersions in ultracold gases, we propose a Bose-Fermi mixture to realize such frequency-dependent superfluid. The key idea is introducing the frequency-dependent attraction between fermions mediated by Bogoliubov phonons with asymmetric dispersion. Our proposal should pave an alternative way for exploring frequency-dependent superfluids with cold atoms.