Impurity probe of topological superfluid in one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gases

Abstract

We investigate theoretically non-magnetic impurity scattering in a one-dimensional atomic topological superfluid in harmonic traps, by solving self-consistently the microscopic Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation. In sharp contrast to topologically trivial Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer \textit{s}-wave superfluid, topological superfluid can host a mid-gap state that is bound to localized non-magnetic impurity. For strong impurity scattering, the bound state becomes universal, with nearly zero energy and a wave-function that closely follows the symmetry of that of Majorana fermions. We propose that the observation of such a universal bound state could be a useful evidence for characterizing the topolgoical nature of topological superfluids. Our prediction is applicable to an ultracold resonantly-interacting Fermi gas of ${}^{40}$K atoms with spin-orbit coupling confined in a two-dimensional optical lattice.

9 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (16)

• Realization of 2D Spin-orbit Interaction and Exotic Topological Orders in Cold Atoms
• Topological Fulde-Ferrell superfluid in spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gases
• Majorana corner modes with solitons in an attractive Hubbard-Hofstadter model of cold atom optical lattices
• Soliton-induced Majorana fermions in a one-dimensional atomic topological superfluid
• Spin-exchange-induced exotic superfluids in a Bose-Fermi spinor mixture
• Spin-orbit-coupled topological Fulde-Ferrell states of fermions in a harmonic trap
• Simulating artificial one-dimensional physics with ultra-cold fermionic atoms: three exemplary themes
• Resolving different pairing states in Weyl superconductors through the single-particle spectrum
• Dynamic structure factor of one-dimensional Fermi superfluid with spin-orbit coupling
• Impurity-induced resonant states in topological nodal-line semimetals
• Charge-impurity-induced Majorana fermions in topological superconductors
• Dynamic structure factor of two-dimensional Fermi superfluid with Rashba spin-orbit coupling
• Spectrum of a family of spin-orbit coupled Hamiltonians with singular perturbation
• Phase tunable Josephson junction and spontaneous mass current in a spin-orbit coupled Fermi superfluid
• Probing Sign-Changing Order Parameters via Impurity States in unconventional superconductors: Implications for La${}_3$Ni${}_2$O${}_7$ Superconductors with interlayer pairing
• Layer-Resolved Impurity States Reveal Competing Pairing Mechanisms in Trilayer Nickelate Superconductor La${}_4$Ni${}_3$O${}_{10}$