Phase diagram and topological superfluid state of spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional optical lattice (1511.01762v1)

Abstract: Based on density matrix renormalization group method, we investigate the spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas with attractive interactions in one-dimensional optical lattice and present a complete phase diagram for a quarter-filling system with intermediate strong interactions. We unveil the exotic pairings induced by spin-orbit couplings and the phase transitions between different pairing states, and further demonstrate the existence of the long-sought topological superfluid state at moderate magnetic field and spin-orbit coupling strength. For the particle conserved system, this topological superfluid state can be fixed by its gapless single particle excitation, Luttinger parameter and non-trivial boundary effect. Our study removes out the widespread doubt on the existence of topological superfluid in one dimension and paves the way for simulating topological superfluid states in cold atom settings.