# Two-body bound state of ultracold Fermi atoms with two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling affects two-body bound states in ultracold Fermi gases, revealing reduced stability regions, shifted thresholds, and nonzero center-of-mass momentum, with implications for topological superfluids.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of two-body bound states under 2D SOC, highlighting differences from symmetric SOCs and suggesting potential for Fulde-Ferrell pairing states.

## Key findings

- Reduced stability region of bound states due to SOC
- Shifted bound state threshold to positive scattering length
- Emergence of nonzero center-of-mass momentum in bound states

## Abstract

In a recent experiment, a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling (SOC) was realized for fermions in the continuum [Nat. Phys. 12, 540 (2016)], which represents an important step forward in the study of synthetic gauge field using cold atoms. In the experiment, it was shown that a Raman-induced two-dimensional SOC exists in the dressed-state basis close to a Dirac point of the single-particle spectrum. By contrast, the short-range inter-atomic interactions of the system are typically expressed in the hyperfine-spin basis. The interplay between synthetic SOC and interactions can potentially lead to interesting few- and many-body phenomena but has so far eluded theoretical attention. Here we study in detail properties of two-body bound states of such a system. We find that, due to the competition between SOC and interaction, the stability region of the two-body bound state is in general reduced. Particularly, the threshold of the lowest two-body bound state is shifted to a positive, SOC-dependent scattering length. Furthermore, the center-of-mass momentum of the lowest two-body bound state becomes nonzero, suggesting the emergence of Fulde-Ferrell pairing states in a many-body setting. Our results reveal the critical difference between the experimentally realized two-dimensional SOC and the more symmetric Rashba or Dresselhaus SOCs in an interacting system, and paves the way for future characterizations of topological superfluid states in the experimentally relevant systems.