Unconventional superfluidity in quasi-one-dimensional systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that spin-orbit coupling induces unconventional superfluidity in repulsive quasi-one-dimensional fermions, with competing pairing symmetries and potential experimental observation using cold atoms.

Contribution

It reveals how spin-orbit coupling leads to unconventional superfluid phases with competing pairings in quasi-one-dimensional systems.

Findings

Superfluid correlations decay algebraically with the same exponent.

Special coupling constants favor a dominant superfluid phase.

Possible experimental observation with cold atom setups.

Abstract

We show that an unconventional superfluid triggered by spin-orbit coupling is realized for repulsively interacting quasi-one-dimensional fermions. A competition between spin-singlet and -triplet pairings occurs due to the breaking of inversion symmetry. We show that both superfluid correlations decay algebraically with the same exponent except for special coupling constants for which a dominant superfluid is controlled by the spin-orbit coupling. We also discuss a possible experiment to observe such phases with cold atoms.