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Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Pairing of fermions under spin-orbit coupling in two dimensions

S. V. Andreev

Published Dec 22, 2022• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a theoretical approach to the problem of two-dimensional fermion pairing under spin-orbit (SO) coupling and Zeeman interaction with an external magnetic field. We introduce a generic pairing Hamiltonian operating in the Hilbert space spanning free pairs and bare two-body bound states. The SO coupling of Rashba or Dresselhaus type provides $p$-wave dressing of an $s$-wave spin-singlet bound state by continua in the triplet scattering channels. In the strong-coupling (Bose-Einstein condensate) limit of the many-body fermion system at zero temperature our theory maps onto the two-channel Fano-Anderson model of a spinless resonant $p$-wave superfluid.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.106.214523

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We present a theoretical approach to the problem of two-dimensional fermion pairing under spin-orbit (SO) coupling and Zeeman interaction with an external magnetic field. We introduce a generic pairing Hamiltonian operating in the Hilbert space spanning free pairs and bare two-body bound states. The SO coupling of Rashba or Dresselhaus type provides ppp-wave dressing of an sss-wave spin-singlet bound state by continua in the triplet scattering channels. In the strong-coupling (Bose-Einstein condensate) limit of the many-body fermion system at zero temperature our theory maps onto the two-channel Fano-Anderson model of a spinless resonant ppp-wave superfluid.
Triplet character of 2D-fermion dimers arising from sss-wave attraction via spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting
We theoretically study spin-1/2 fermions confined to two spatial dimensions and experiencing isotropic short-range attraction in the presence of both spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman spin splitting -- a prototypical system for developing topological superfluidity in the many-body sector. Exact solutions for two-particle bound states are found to have a triplet contribution that dominates over the singlet part in an extended region of parameter space where the combined Zeeman- and center-of-mass-motion-induced spin-splitting energy is large. The triplet character of dimers is purest in the regime of weak s-wave interaction strength. Center-of-mass momentum is one of the parameters determining the existence of bound states, which we map out for both two- and one-dimensional types of spin-orbit coupling. Distinctive features emerging in the orbital part of the bound-state wave function, including but not limited to its p-wave character, provide observable signatures of unconventional pairing.
In this Thesis we discussed ultracold Fermi gas with an s-wave interaction and synthetic spin-orbit coupling under a variety of conditions. We considered the system in both three and two spatial dimensions, with equal-Rashba-Dresselhaus type or Rashba-only type of spin-orbit-coupling, and with or without an artificial Zeeman field. We found competing effects on Fermionic superfluidity from spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman fields, and topologically non-trivial states in the presence of both fields. We gave an outlook on the many-body physics in the last.
We derive general conditions for the emergence of singlet Feshbach molecules in the presence of artificial Zeeman fields for arbitrary mixtures of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in two or three dimensions. We focus on the formation of two-particle bound states resulting from interactions between ultracold spin-1/2\text{spin-}1/2spin-1/2 fermions, under the assumption that interactions are short ranged and occur only in the s-waves\text{-wave}s-wave channel. In this case, we calculate explicitly binding energies of Feshbach molecules and bound-state energy thresholds and analyze their dependence on spin-orbit couplings, Zeeman fields, interactions, and center-of-mass momentum, paying particular attention to the experimentally relevant case of spin-orbit couplings with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus (ERD) amplitudes.
We study the effect of spin-orbit coupling on both the zero-temperature and nonzero-temperature behavior of a two-dimensional Fermi gas. We include a generic combination of Rashba and Dresselhaus terms into the system Hamiltonian, which allows us to study both the experimentally relevant equal-Rashba-Dresselhaus (ERD) limit and the Rashba-only (RO) limit. At zero temperature, we derive the phase diagram as a function of the two-body binding energy and Zeeman field. In the ERD case, this phase diagram reveals several topologically distinct uniform superfluid phases, classified according to the nodal structure of the quasiparticle excitation energies. Furthermore, we use a momentum-dependent SU(2) rotation to transform the system into a generalized helicity basis, revealing that spin-orbit coupling induces a triplet pairing component of the order parameter. At nonzero temperature, we study the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition by including phase fluctuations of the order parameter up to second order. We show that the superfluid density becomes anisotropic due to the presence of spin-orbit coupling (except in the RO case). This leads both to elliptic vortices and antivortices, and to anisotropic sound velocities. The latter prove to be sensitive to quantum phase transitions between topologically distinct phases. We show further that at a fixed nonzero Zeeman field, the BKT critical temperature is increased by the presence of ERD spin-orbit coupling. Subsequently, we demonstrate that the Clogston limit becomes infinite: TBKT{T}_{\mathrm{BKT}}TBKT​ remains nonzero at all finite values of the Zeeman field. We conclude by extending the quantum phase transition lines to nonzero temperature, using the nodal structure of the quasiparticle spectrum, thus connecting the BKT critical temperature with the zero-temperature results.
Abstract The equal Rashba-Dresselhaus (ERD) spin-orbit coupling, as the first type to be implemented in cold atom experiments, provides a unique platform for exploring topological quantum phases. This work investigates the ground state of a two-dimensional Fermi gas featuring both ERD coupling and a Zeeman field, mapping out its topological phase diagram throughout the BCS-BEC crossover. We classify the homogeneous superfluid phases into topologically trivial gapped or nontrivial gapless phase based on the nodal structure of the quasiparticle excitation spectrum. We reveal the evolution of topological superfluid states under various conditions by systematically characterizing the phase distribution across key parameters including the spin-orbit coupling strength, two-body binding energy, Zeeman field, and chemical potential. Our findings indicate that spin-orbit coupling enhances triplet pairing and stabilizes the gapless superfluid phase. Moreover, small binding energy, and strong Zeeman field are found to promote the emergence of the gapless phase, particularly the US-II phase identified in this work. These results elucidate the phase transition mechanisms in low-dimensional quantum systems.
In a recent experiment, a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling (SOC) was realized for fermions in the continuum [Nat. Phys. 12, 540 (2016)], which represents an important step forward in the study of synthetic gauge fields using cold atoms. In the experiment it was shown that a Raman-induced two-dimensional SOC exists in the dressed-state basis close to a Dirac point of the single-particle spectrum. By contrast, the short-range interatomic interactions of the system are typically expressed in the hyperfine-spin basis. The interplay between synthetic SOC and interactions can potentially lead to interesting few- and many-body phenomena but has so far eluded theoretical attention. Here we study in detail properties of two-body bound states of such a system. We find that, due to the competition between SOC and interaction, the stability region of the two-body bound state is in general reduced. Particularly, the threshold of the lowest two-body bound state is shifted to a positive, SOC-dependent scattering length. Furthermore, the center-of-mass momentum of the lowest two-body bound state becomes nonzero, suggesting the emergence of Fulde-Ferrell pairing states in a many-body setting. Our results reveal the critical difference between the experimentally realized two-dimensional SOC and the more symmetric Rashba or Dresselhaus SOCs in an interacting system, paving the way for future characterizations of topological superfluid states in the experimentally relevant systems.