Dark Solitons with Majorana Fermions in Spin-Orbit-Coupled Fermi Gases

Date

2014-09-26

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Publisher

American Physical Society

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Abstract

We show that a single dark soliton can exist in a spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas with a high spin imbalance, where spin-orbit coupling favors uniform superfluids over nonuniform Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov states, leading to dark soliton excitations in highly imbalanced gases. Above a critical spin imbalance, two topological Majorana fermions without interactions can coexist inside a dark soliton, paving a way for manipulating Majorana fermions through controlling solitons. At the topological transition point, the atom density contrast across the soliton suddenly vanishes, suggesting a signature for identifying topological solitons.

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Keywords

Solitons, Fermi gases, Fermions, Superfluidity

item.page.sponsorship

National Stroke Foundation (11274024, 11334001, 11344009); AFOSR (FA9550-13-1-0054); ARO (W911NF-12-1-0334); NSF-PHY (1249293); NSF of China (11344009, 11274024,11334001); NBRP of China (2013CB921903,2012CB921300)

Rights

©2014 American Physical Society

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