Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1705.04830 · Physical Review Letters

Realizing Fulde-Ferrell Superfluids via a Dark-State Control of Feshbach Resonances

Lianyi He, Hui Hu, Xia-Ji Liu

Published Jan 25, 2018• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose that the long-sought Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity with nonzero momentum pairing can be realized in ultracold two-component Fermi gases of ^{40}K or ^{6}Li atoms by optically tuning their magnetic Feshbach resonances via the creation of a closed-channel dark state with a Doppler-shifted Stark effect. In this scheme, two counterpropagating optical fields are applied to couple two molecular states in the closed channel to an excited molecular state, leading to a significant violation of Galilean invariance in the dark-state regime and hence to the possibility of Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity. We develop a field theoretical formulation for both two-body and many-body problems and predict that the Fulde-Ferrell state has remarkable properties, such as anisotropic single-particle dispersion relation, suppressed superfluid density at zero temperature, anisotropic sound velocity, and rotonic collective mode. The latter two features can be experimentally probed using Bragg spectroscopy, providing a smoking-gun proof of Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.120.045302

Related papers

Inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity in spin-orbit-coupled atomic Fermi gases

Xia-Ji Liu, Hui Hu

Inhomogeneous superfluidity lies at the heart of many intriguing phenomena in quantum physics. It is believed to play a central role in unconventional organic or heavy-fermion superconductors, chiral quark matter, and neutron star glitches. However, so far even the simplest form of inhomogeneous superfluidity, the Fulde-Ferrell (FF) pairing state with a single center-of-mass momentum, is not conclusively observed due to the intrinsic complexibility of any realistic Fermi systems in nature. Here we theoretically predict that the controlled setting of ultracold fermionic atoms with synthetic spin-orbit coupling induced by a two-photon Raman process, demonstrated recently in cold-atom laboratories, provides a promising route to realize the long-sought FF superfluidity. At experimentally accessible low temperatures, the FF superfluid state dominates the phase diagram, in sharp contrast to the conventional case without spin-orbit coupling. We show that the finite center-of-mass momentum carried by Cooper pairs is directly measurable via momentum-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy. Our work opens the way to direct observation and characterization of inhomogeneous superfluidity.

arXiv:1302.0553•Physical Review A•May 28, 2013•42 citations

Optical control of the scattering length and effective range for magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances in ultracold gases

Haibin Wu, John E. Thomas

We describe two-field optical techniques to control interactions in Feshbach resonances for two-body scattering in ultracold gases. These techniques create a molecular dark state in the closed channel of a magnetically tunable Feshbach resonance, greatly suppressing optical scattering compared to single optical field methods. The dark-state method enables control of the effective range, by creating narrow features that modify the energy dependence of the scattering phase shift, as well as control of the elastic and inelastic parts of the zero-energy $s$-wave scattering amplitude. We determine the scattering length and the effective range from an effective range expansion, by calculating the momentum-dependent scattering phase shift from the two-body scattering state.

arXiv:1211.4556•Physical Review A•Dec 20, 2012•32 citations

Fulde–Ferrell superfluids in spinless ultracold Fermi gases

Zhen-Fei Zheng, Guang‐Can Guo, Zhen Zheng +1 more

The Fulde–Ferrell (FF) superfluid phase, in which fermions form finite momentum Cooper pairings, is well studied in spin-singlet superfluids in past decades. Different from previous works that engineer the FF state in spinful cold atoms, we show that the FF state can emerge in spinless Fermi gases confined in optical lattice associated with nearest-neighbor interactions. The mechanism of the spinless FF state relies on the split Fermi surfaces by tuning the chemistry potential, which naturally gives rise to finite momentum Cooper pairings. The phase transition is accompanied by changed Chern numbers, in which, different from the conventional picture, the band gap does not close. By beyond-mean-field calculations, we find the finite momentum pairing is more robust, yielding the system promising for maintaining the FF state at finite temperature. Finally we present the possible realization and detection scheme of the spinless FF state.

arXiv:1705.03205•New Journal of Physics•May 25, 2018•4 citations

Cavity-induced Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov superfluids of ultracold Fermi gases

Zhen Zheng, Z. D. Wang

Motivated by recent experimental advances in ultracold atomic gases placed in cavities, we study the influence of the atom-cavity coupling on the Fermi gases trapped in optical lattices. By adiabatic elimination of the cavity photon field, the atom-cavity coupling gives rise to effective long-range interactions. It results in a variety of two-body scattering processes, during which the atomic pairs can acquire an additional center-of-mass momentum. This reveals the possibility of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superfluids in which the atomic pairing momentum is nonzero. By inspecting the phase diagram at the mean-field level, we confirm that the FFLO superfluid phase coexists with the zero-momentum pairing, and is the ground state that hosts the lowest energy. Furthermore, the order parameter characterizing the non-zero-momentum pairing does not vanish as long as the cavity-induced interaction is present.

arXiv:2003.08602•Physical Review A•Feb 19, 2020•7 citations

Topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid in spin-orbit-coupled atomic Fermi gases

Xia-Ji Liu, Hui Hu

We theoretically predict a topological matter---topological inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell superfluid---in one-dimensional atomic Fermi gases with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling near $s$-wave Feshbach resonances. The realization of such a spin-orbit-coupled Fermi system has already been demonstrated recently by using a two-photon Raman process and the extra one-dimensional confinement is easy to achieve using a tight two-dimensional optical lattice. The topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid phase is characterized by a nonzero center-of-mass momentum and a nontrivial Berry phase. By tuning the Rabi frequency and the detuning of Raman laser beams, we show that such an exotic topological phase occupies a significant part of parameter space and therefore it could be easily observed experimentally, by using, for example, momentum-resolved and spatially resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy.

arXiv:1307.3744•Physical Review A•Aug 29, 2013•52 citations

Optical Control of Feshbach Resonances in Fermi Gases Using Molecular Dark States

Haibin Wu, John E. Thomas

We propose a general method for optical control of magnetic Feshbach resonances in ultracold atomic gases with more than one molecular state in an energetically closed channel. Using two optical frequencies to couple two states in the closed channel, inelastic loss arising from spontaneous emission is greatly suppressed by destructive quantum interference at the two-photon resonance, i.e., dark-state formation, while the scattering length is widely tunable by varying the frequencies and/or intensities of the optical fields. This technique is of particular interest for a two-component atomic Fermi gas, which is stable near a Feshbach resonance.

arXiv:1110.0650•Physical Review Letters•Jan 4, 2012•44 citations
We propose that the long-sought Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity with nonzero momentum pairing can be realized in ultracold two-component Fermi gases of ^{40}K or ^{6}Li atoms by optically tuning their magnetic Feshbach resonances via the creation of a closed-channel dark state with a Doppler-shifted Stark effect. In this scheme, two counterpropagating optical fields are applied to couple two molecular states in the closed channel to an excited molecular state, leading to a significant violation of Galilean invariance in the dark-state regime and hence to the possibility of Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity. We develop a field theoretical formulation for both two-body and many-body problems and predict that the Fulde-Ferrell state has remarkable properties, such as anisotropic single-particle dispersion relation, suppressed superfluid density at zero temperature, anisotropic sound velocity, and rotonic collective mode. The latter two features can be experimentally probed using Bragg spectroscopy, providing a smoking-gun proof of Fulde-Ferrell superfluidity.
Inhomogeneous superfluidity lies at the heart of many intriguing phenomena in quantum physics. It is believed to play a central role in unconventional organic or heavy-fermion superconductors, chiral quark matter, and neutron star glitches. However, so far even the simplest form of inhomogeneous superfluidity, the Fulde-Ferrell (FF) pairing state with a single center-of-mass momentum, is not conclusively observed due to the intrinsic complexibility of any realistic Fermi systems in nature. Here we theoretically predict that the controlled setting of ultracold fermionic atoms with synthetic spin-orbit coupling induced by a two-photon Raman process, demonstrated recently in cold-atom laboratories, provides a promising route to realize the long-sought FF superfluidity. At experimentally accessible low temperatures, the FF superfluid state dominates the phase diagram, in sharp contrast to the conventional case without spin-orbit coupling. We show that the finite center-of-mass momentum carried by Cooper pairs is directly measurable via momentum-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy. Our work opens the way to direct observation and characterization of inhomogeneous superfluidity.
We describe two-field optical techniques to control interactions in Feshbach resonances for two-body scattering in ultracold gases. These techniques create a molecular dark state in the closed channel of a magnetically tunable Feshbach resonance, greatly suppressing optical scattering compared to single optical field methods. The dark-state method enables control of the effective range, by creating narrow features that modify the energy dependence of the scattering phase shift, as well as control of the elastic and inelastic parts of the zero-energy sss-wave scattering amplitude. We determine the scattering length and the effective range from an effective range expansion, by calculating the momentum-dependent scattering phase shift from the two-body scattering state.
The Fulde–Ferrell (FF) superfluid phase, in which fermions form finite momentum Cooper pairings, is well studied in spin-singlet superfluids in past decades. Different from previous works that engineer the FF state in spinful cold atoms, we show that the FF state can emerge in spinless Fermi gases confined in optical lattice associated with nearest-neighbor interactions. The mechanism of the spinless FF state relies on the split Fermi surfaces by tuning the chemistry potential, which naturally gives rise to finite momentum Cooper pairings. The phase transition is accompanied by changed Chern numbers, in which, different from the conventional picture, the band gap does not close. By beyond-mean-field calculations, we find the finite momentum pairing is more robust, yielding the system promising for maintaining the FF state at finite temperature. Finally we present the possible realization and detection scheme of the spinless FF state.
Motivated by recent experimental advances in ultracold atomic gases placed in cavities, we study the influence of the atom-cavity coupling on the Fermi gases trapped in optical lattices. By adiabatic elimination of the cavity photon field, the atom-cavity coupling gives rise to effective long-range interactions. It results in a variety of two-body scattering processes, during which the atomic pairs can acquire an additional center-of-mass momentum. This reveals the possibility of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superfluids in which the atomic pairing momentum is nonzero. By inspecting the phase diagram at the mean-field level, we confirm that the FFLO superfluid phase coexists with the zero-momentum pairing, and is the ground state that hosts the lowest energy. Furthermore, the order parameter characterizing the non-zero-momentum pairing does not vanish as long as the cavity-induced interaction is present.
We theoretically predict a topological matter---topological inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell superfluid---in one-dimensional atomic Fermi gases with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling near sss-wave Feshbach resonances. The realization of such a spin-orbit-coupled Fermi system has already been demonstrated recently by using a two-photon Raman process and the extra one-dimensional confinement is easy to achieve using a tight two-dimensional optical lattice. The topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid phase is characterized by a nonzero center-of-mass momentum and a nontrivial Berry phase. By tuning the Rabi frequency and the detuning of Raman laser beams, we show that such an exotic topological phase occupies a significant part of parameter space and therefore it could be easily observed experimentally, by using, for example, momentum-resolved and spatially resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy.
We propose a general method for optical control of magnetic Feshbach resonances in ultracold atomic gases with more than one molecular state in an energetically closed channel. Using two optical frequencies to couple two states in the closed channel, inelastic loss arising from spontaneous emission is greatly suppressed by destructive quantum interference at the two-photon resonance, i.e., dark-state formation, while the scattering length is widely tunable by varying the frequencies and/or intensities of the optical fields. This technique is of particular interest for a two-component atomic Fermi gas, which is stable near a Feshbach resonance.