Hydrodynamics of Normal Atomic Gases with Spin-orbit Coupling

TL;DR

This paper derives hydrodynamic equations for normal atomic gases with spin-orbit coupling, revealing how spin-orbit interactions influence sound velocities and collective modes, advancing understanding of many-body physics in controllable quantum gases.

Contribution

The paper provides a theoretical framework for hydrodynamics in spin-orbit coupled atomic gases, highlighting the role of momentum susceptibilities and analyzing effects on collective excitations.

Findings

Spin-orbit coupling modifies momentum susceptibilities.

Sound velocities are affected by spin-orbit interactions.

Dipole mode frequencies are altered in the presence of spin-orbit coupling.

Abstract

Successful realization of spin-orbit coupling in atomic gases by the NIST scheme opens the prospect of studying the effects of spin-orbit coupling on many-body physics in an unprecedentedly controllable way. Here we derive the linearized hydrodynamic equations for the normal atomic gases of the spin-orbit coupling by the NIST scheme with zero detuning. We show that the hydrodynamics of the system crucially depends on the momentum susceptibilities which can be modified by the spin-orbit coupling. We reveal the effects of the spin-orbit coupling on the sound velocities and the dipole mode frequency of the gases by applying our formalism to the ideal Fermi gas. We also discuss the generalization of our results to other situations.