Stable non-equilibrium Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in a spin-imbalanced driven-dissipative Fermi gas loaded on a three-dimensional cubic optical lattice

Abstract

We theoretically investigate a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) type superfluid phase transition in a driven-dissipative two-component Fermi gas. The system is assumed to be in the non-equilibrium steady state, which is tuned by adjusting the chemical potential difference between two reservoirs that are coupled with the system. Including pairing fluctuations by extending the strong-coupling theory developed in the thermal-equilibrium state by Nozieres and Schmitt-Rink to this non-equilibrium case, we show that a non-equilibrium FFLO (NFFLO) phase transition can be realized without spin imbalance, under the conditions that (1) the two reservoirs imprint a two-edge structure on the momentum distribution of Fermi atoms, and (2) the system is loaded on a three-dimensional cubic optical lattice. While the two edges work like two Fermi surfaces with different sizes, the role of the optical lattice is to prevent the NFFLO long-range order from destruction by NFFLO pairing fluctuations. We also draw the non-equilibrium mean-field phase diagram in terms of the chemical potential difference between the two reservoirs, a fictitious magnetic field to tune the spin imbalance of the system, and the environmental temperature of the reservoirs, to clarify the relation between the NFFLO state and the ordinary thermal-equilibrium FFLO state discussed in spin-imbalanced Fermi gases.