Spectral Gaps of Spin-orbit Coupled Particles in Deformed Traps

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spectral gaps in spin-orbit coupled particles within deformed traps vary with interaction strength and trap deformation, revealing potential for controlling many-body physics.

Contribution

It provides a numerical analysis of the spectral properties of spin-orbit coupled particles in deformed harmonic traps, including effects of Zeeman interaction.

Findings

Spectral gaps vary significantly with Rashba coupling and trap deformation.

Density of states and superfluid critical strength are highly sensitive to interaction parameters.

Manipulation of many-body physics is possible through tuning of spin-orbit and trap parameters.

Abstract

We consider a spin-orbit coupled system of particles in an external trap that is represented by a deformed harmonic oscillator potential. The spin-orbit interaction is a Rashba interaction that does not commute with the trapping potential and requires a full numerical treatment in order to obtain the spectrum. The effect of a Zeeman term is also considered. Our results demonstrate that variable spectral gaps occur as a function of strength of the Rashba interaction and deformation of the harmonic trapping potential. The single-particle density of states and the critical strength for superfluidity vary tremendously with the interaction parameter. The strong variations with Rashba coupling and deformation implies that the few- and many-body physics of spin-orbit coupled systems can be manipulated by variation of these parameters.