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:1801.02639 · Physical Review A

Larkin-Ovchinnikov superfluidity in time-reversal-symmetric bilayer Fermi gases

Qing Sun, Liang‐Liang Wang, Xiong-Jun Liu, Gediminas Juzeliūnas, An-Chun Ji

Published Apr 1, 2019• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) state which combines the superfluidity and spatial periodicity of pairing order parameters and exhibits supersolid properties has been attracting intense attention in both condensed-matter physics and ultracold atoms. Conventionally, realization of the LO state from an intrinsic $s$-wave interacting system necessitates breaking the time-reversal (TR) and sometimes spatial-inversion (SI) symmetries. Here we report a prediction that the LO state can be realized in a TR- and SI-symmetric system representing a bilayer Fermi gas subjected to a laser-assisted interlayer tunneling. We show that the intralayer $s$-wave atomic interaction acts effectively like a $p$-wave interaction in the pseudospin space. This provides distinctive pairing effects in the present system with pseudspin spin-orbit coupling, and leads to a spontaneous density modulation of the pairing order predicted in a very broad parameter regime. Unlike the conventional schemes, our results do not rely on the spin imbalance or external Zeeman fields, showing a highly feasible way to observe the long-sought-after LO superfluid phase using the laser-assisted bilayer Fermi gases.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.99.043601

Related papers

Robust Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinikov superfluidity in laser-assisted bilayer Fermi gases

Qing Sun, Liang‐Liang Wang, Gediminas Juzeliūnas +1 more

Inspired by a recent observation of the supersolidity for bosonic atoms in a laser-assisted superlattice potential [J. Li, et. al., Nature 543, 91 (2017)], we consider an attractive two-component degenerate Fermi gas in a bilayer structure with two atomic hyperfine ground states involved. We find that the synthetic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) induced by the laser-assisted interlayer tunneling has a dramatical effect both on the two-body and many-body physics for atomic fermions. A bound molecular state appears, and the molecular dispersion can contain two minima at finite momenta even for vanishing intra- and inter-layer detunings. This is responsible for the pairing instability of the underlying attractive Fermi gas. As a result, the ground state of the system is found to be a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinikov (FFLO) superfluid with a spontaneous density-modulation of the order parameter. Due to the specific pairing mechanism in this system, the FFLO state is robust and appears in a wide parameter regime with the characteristic pairing momentum on the order of the SOC strength. The unique features of the two-body and many-body state can be observed in current experiments with ultracold atoms.

•Jan 8, 2018•0 citations

Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state to topological superfluidity transition in bilayer spin-orbit-coupled degenerate Fermi gases

Liang‐Liang Wang, Qing Sun, W.-M. Liu +2 more

Recently a scheme has been proposed for generating the two-dimensional Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for ultracold atomic bosons in a bilayer geometry [S.-W. Su et al., Phys. Rev. A 93, 053630 (2016)]. Here we investigate the superfluidity properties of a degenerate Fermi gas affected by the SOC in such a bilayer system. We demonstrate that a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state appears in the regime of small to moderate atom-light coupling. In contrast to the ordinary SOC, the FFLO state emerges in the bilayer system without adding any external fields or spin polarization. As the atom-light coupling increases, the system can transit from the FFLO state to a topological superfluid state. These findings are also confirmed by the Bogoliubov---de Gennes simulations with a weak harmonic trap added.

arXiv:1702.04735•Physical Review A•May 24, 2017•12 citations

Exotic pairing states in a Fermi gas with three-dimensional spin-orbit coupling

Xiang-Fa Zhou, Guang‐Can Guo, Wei Zhang +1 more

We investigate properties of exotic pairing states in a three-dimensional Fermi gas with three-dimensional spin-orbit coupling and an effective Zeeman field. The interplay of spin-orbit coupling, effective Zeeman field, and pairing can lead to first-order phase transitions between different phases, and to interesting nodal superfluid states with gapless surfaces in the momentum space. We then demonstrate that pairing states with zero center-of-mass momentum are unstable against Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) states, with a finite center-of-mass momentum opposite to the direction of the effective Zeeman field. Unlike conventional FFLO states, these FFLO states are induced by the coexistence of spin-orbit coupling and Fermi surface deformation, and have intriguing features like first-order transitions between different FFLO states, nodal FFLO states with gapless surfaces in momentum space, and exotic fully gapped FFLO states. With the recent theoretical proposals for realizing three-dimensional spin-orbit coupling in ultracold atomic gases, our work is helpful for future experimental studies and provides valuable information for the general understanding of pairing physics in spin-orbit-coupled fermionic systems.

arXiv:1302.1303•Physical Review A•Jun 6, 2013•32 citations

Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in bilayer dipolar systems

Hao Lee, Sergey I. Matveenko, Daw-Wei Wang +1 more

We study the phase diagram of fermionic polar molecules in a bilayer system, with an imbalance of molecular densities of the layers. For the imbalance exceeding a critical value, the system undergoes a transition from the uniform interlayer superfluid to the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state with mostly a stripe structure, and at sufficiently large imbalance a transition from the FFLO to normal phase. Compared to the case of contact interactions, the FFLO regime is enhanced by the long-range character of the interlayer dipolar interaction, which can combine the $s$-wave and $p$-wave pairing in the order parameter.

arXiv:1705.06637•Physical Review A•Dec 14, 2017•9 citations

Larkin-Ovchinnikov superfluidity in a two-dimensional imbalanced atomic Fermi gas

Umberto Toniolo, Brendan C. Mulkerin, Xia-Ji Liu +1 more

We present an extensive study of two-dimensional Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) superfluidity in a spin-imbalanced two-component atomic Fermi gas. In the context of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase, we explore a wide and generic class of pairing gap functions with explicit spatial dependency. The mean-field theory of such phases is applied through the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations in which the pairing gap can be determined self-consistently. To systematically explore the configuration space we consider both the canonical and grand canonical ensembles where we control the polarization or chemical potentials of the system, respectively. The mean-field calculations enable us to understand the nature of the phase transitions in the fully paired Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) state, exotic LO phase, and partially polarized free Fermi gas (${N}_{\text{PP}}$). The order of the phase transitions has been examined and, in particular, we find a weak first-order phase transition between the exotic inhomogeneous LO phase and the BCS phase. In comparison to the three-dimensional case, where the phase diagram is dominated by a generic separation phase, we predict a broader parameter space for the spatially inhomogeneous LO phase. By computing the superfluid density of the LO phase at different polarization, we show how the superfluidity of the system is suppressed with increasing spin polarization.

arXiv:1609.06692•Physical Review A•Jan 4, 2017•14 citations

Topological superfluids in two-dimensional Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Xiaosen Yang, Ho-Kin Tang, Noah F. Q. Yuan +4 more

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.

arXiv:2109.04670•Sep 10, 2021•0 citations
The Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) state which combines the superfluidity and spatial periodicity of pairing order parameters and exhibits supersolid properties has been attracting intense attention in both condensed-matter physics and ultracold atoms. Conventionally, realization of the LO state from an intrinsic sss-wave interacting system necessitates breaking the time-reversal (TR) and sometimes spatial-inversion (SI) symmetries. Here we report a prediction that the LO state can be realized in a TR- and SI-symmetric system representing a bilayer Fermi gas subjected to a laser-assisted interlayer tunneling. We show that the intralayer sss-wave atomic interaction acts effectively like a ppp-wave interaction in the pseudospin space. This provides distinctive pairing effects in the present system with pseudspin spin-orbit coupling, and leads to a spontaneous density modulation of the pairing order predicted in a very broad parameter regime. Unlike the conventional schemes, our results do not rely on the spin imbalance or external Zeeman fields, showing a highly feasible way to observe the long-sought-after LO superfluid phase using the laser-assisted bilayer Fermi gases.
Inspired by a recent observation of the supersolidity for bosonic atoms in a laser-assisted superlattice potential [J. Li, et. al., Nature 543, 91 (2017)], we consider an attractive two-component degenerate Fermi gas in a bilayer structure with two atomic hyperfine ground states involved. We find that the synthetic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) induced by the laser-assisted interlayer tunneling has a dramatical effect both on the two-body and many-body physics for atomic fermions. A bound molecular state appears, and the molecular dispersion can contain two minima at finite momenta even for vanishing intra- and inter-layer detunings. This is responsible for the pairing instability of the underlying attractive Fermi gas. As a result, the ground state of the system is found to be a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinikov (FFLO) superfluid with a spontaneous density-modulation of the order parameter. Due to the specific pairing mechanism in this system, the FFLO state is robust and appears in a wide parameter regime with the characteristic pairing momentum on the order of the SOC strength. The unique features of the two-body and many-body state can be observed in current experiments with ultracold atoms.
Recently a scheme has been proposed for generating the two-dimensional Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for ultracold atomic bosons in a bilayer geometry [S.-W. Su et al., Phys. Rev. A 93, 053630 (2016)]. Here we investigate the superfluidity properties of a degenerate Fermi gas affected by the SOC in such a bilayer system. We demonstrate that a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state appears in the regime of small to moderate atom-light coupling. In contrast to the ordinary SOC, the FFLO state emerges in the bilayer system without adding any external fields or spin polarization. As the atom-light coupling increases, the system can transit from the FFLO state to a topological superfluid state. These findings are also confirmed by the Bogoliubov---de Gennes simulations with a weak harmonic trap added.
We investigate properties of exotic pairing states in a three-dimensional Fermi gas with three-dimensional spin-orbit coupling and an effective Zeeman field. The interplay of spin-orbit coupling, effective Zeeman field, and pairing can lead to first-order phase transitions between different phases, and to interesting nodal superfluid states with gapless surfaces in the momentum space. We then demonstrate that pairing states with zero center-of-mass momentum are unstable against Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) states, with a finite center-of-mass momentum opposite to the direction of the effective Zeeman field. Unlike conventional FFLO states, these FFLO states are induced by the coexistence of spin-orbit coupling and Fermi surface deformation, and have intriguing features like first-order transitions between different FFLO states, nodal FFLO states with gapless surfaces in momentum space, and exotic fully gapped FFLO states. With the recent theoretical proposals for realizing three-dimensional spin-orbit coupling in ultracold atomic gases, our work is helpful for future experimental studies and provides valuable information for the general understanding of pairing physics in spin-orbit-coupled fermionic systems.
We study the phase diagram of fermionic polar molecules in a bilayer system, with an imbalance of molecular densities of the layers. For the imbalance exceeding a critical value, the system undergoes a transition from the uniform interlayer superfluid to the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state with mostly a stripe structure, and at sufficiently large imbalance a transition from the FFLO to normal phase. Compared to the case of contact interactions, the FFLO regime is enhanced by the long-range character of the interlayer dipolar interaction, which can combine the sss-wave and ppp-wave pairing in the order parameter.
We present an extensive study of two-dimensional Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) superfluidity in a spin-imbalanced two-component atomic Fermi gas. In the context of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase, we explore a wide and generic class of pairing gap functions with explicit spatial dependency. The mean-field theory of such phases is applied through the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations in which the pairing gap can be determined self-consistently. To systematically explore the configuration space we consider both the canonical and grand canonical ensembles where we control the polarization or chemical potentials of the system, respectively. The mean-field calculations enable us to understand the nature of the phase transitions in the fully paired Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) state, exotic LO phase, and partially polarized free Fermi gas (NPP{N}_{\text{PP}}NPP​). The order of the phase transitions has been examined and, in particular, we find a weak first-order phase transition between the exotic inhomogeneous LO phase and the BCS phase. In comparison to the three-dimensional case, where the phase diagram is dominated by a generic separation phase, we predict a broader parameter space for the spatially inhomogeneous LO phase. By computing the superfluid density of the LO phase at different polarization, we show how the superfluidity of the system is suppressed with increasing spin polarization.
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.