arXiv subjects

Lihong Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Lihong Zhou.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Fulde-Ferrell superfluids in an asymmetric three-component Fermi Gas

An asymmetric three-component Fermi gas, featuring Raman-induced spin-orbit coupling between the first and second components and contact interaction only between the first and third components, introduces both spin-orbit coupling and population imbalance-two mechanisms known to stabilize the Fulde-Ferrell superfluids.We systematically study Fulde-Ferrell superfluids in an asymmetric three-component Fermi gas { in two dimensions and at zero temperature} by finding the global minima of the thermodynamic potential. We reveal a new class of composite Fulde-Ferrell superfluids that emerges when strong spin-orbit coupling generates a double-well structure in momentum space within the lower spin-orbit-coupled band. The key features of these composite superfluids are identified.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Non-Hermitian topological superfluidity in a three-dimensional fermi gas with spin-orbit coupling

The experimental advances in realizing artificial spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and non-Hermitian potentials in ultracold atomic system open a new avenue for exploring their significant roles in quantum many-body physics. Here, we investigate a non-Hermitian, two-component Fermi system in a cubic lattice with Rashba SOC and complex-valued interaction arising from two-body loss. We adopt the non-Hermitian mean field theory and map out the phase diagram at zero temperature. The interplay of dissipation and on-site interaction drives a dissipation-induced phase transition from superfluid (SF) to normal phase (N). Notably, for weak interaction strengths, this leads to a reentrance of the superfluid state. The presence of SOC significantly expands the parameter regime for both the normal phase and the metastable superfluid phase(MSF). Whereas, the Zeeman field can drive the system from a conventional superfluid into a topological superfluid phase(TSF), characterized by a nontrivial topological invariant. These results enrich our knowledge of pairing superfluidity in Fermi systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Engineering Non-Hermitian Skin Effect with Band Topology in Ultracold Gases

Non-Hermitian skin effect(NHSE) describes a unique non-Hermitian phenomenon that all eigen-modes are localized near the boundary, and has profound impact on a wide range of bulk properties. In particular, topological systems with NHSE have stimulated extensive research interests recently, given the fresh theoretical and experimental challenges therein. Here we propose a readily implementable scheme for achieving NHSE with band topology in ultracold gases. Specifically, the scheme realizes the one-dimensional optical Raman lattice with two types of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and an additional laser-induced dissipation. By tuning the dissipation and the SOC strengths, NHSE and band topology can be individually controlled such that they can coexist in a considerable parameter regime. To identify the topological phase in the presence of NHSE, we have restored the bulk-boundary correspondence by invoking the non-Bloch band theory, and discussed the dynamic signals for detection. Our work serves as a guideline for engineering topological lattices with NHSE in the highly tunable environment of cold atoms, paving the way for future studies of exotic non-Hermitian physics in a genuine quantum many-body setting.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Effective scattering and Efimov physics in the presence of two-body dissipation

Two-body dissipation usually gives rise to a complex interaction. Here, we study the effect of two-body dissipation on few-body physics, including the fundamental two-body effective scattering and the three-body Efimov physics. By employing a two-channel model that incorporates the decay of closed-channel molecules (generating the two-body dissipation), we explicitly relate the real and imaginary part of the inverse scattering length (a_s^{-1}) to closed-channel detuning and decay rate. In particular, we show that the imaginary part of a_s^{-1} is given by the product of the molecule decay rate and the effective range. Such complex scattering length is found to generate an additional imaginary Coulomb potential when three atoms come close to each other, thereby suppressing the formation of trimer bound states and modifying the conventional discrete scaling in Efimov physics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Dissipation-facilitated molecules in a Fermi gas with non-Hermitian spin-orbit coupling

We study the impact of non-Hermiticity on the molecule formation in a two-component spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas near a wide Feshbach resonance. Under an experimentally feasible configuration where the two-photon Raman process is dissipative, the Raman-induced synthetic spin-orbit coupling acquires a complex strength. Remarkably, dissipation of the system facilitates the formation and binding of molecules, which, despite their dissipative nature and finite lifetime, exist over a wider parameter regime than in the corresponding Hermitian system. These dissipation-facilitated molecules can be probed by the inverse radio-frequency (rf) spectroscopy, provided the Raman lasers are blue detuned to the excited state. The effects of dissipation manifest in the rf spectra as shifted peaks with broadened widths, which serve as a clear experimental signature. Our results, readily observable in current cold-atom experiments, shed light on the fascinating interplay of non-Hermiticity and interaction in few- and many-body open quantum systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Experimental generation of phase wraps for subwavelength phase structures in Bose-Einstein condensate with two-dimensional optical lattice

We report an experimental demonstration of engineering phase wraps for sub-wavelength structure in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with two-dimensional optical lattices. A short lattice pulse is applied on BEC working in the Kapitza-Dirac (or Raman-Nath) regime, which corresponds to phase modulation imprint on matter wave. When the phase modulation on matter wave is larger than $2π$ in a lattice cell, there appears phase wraps with multiple $2π$ jumps, generating the sub-wavelength phase structure. The phase wraps for sub-wavelength structure are measured in momentum space via the time-of-flight absorption image, which corresponds to converting phase information into amplitude. %Two different kinds of two-dimensional optical lattice are studied, which show the different subwavelength phase structure. Moreover, we identify an additional condition for the validity of Kapitza-Dirac regime, which relies crucially on the lattice configurations. This scheme can be used for studying the property of optical lattices and topological defects in matter wave.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Enhanced fermion pairing and superfluidity by an imaginary magnetic field

We show that an imaginary magnetic field(IMF), which can be generated in non-Hermitian systems with spin-dependent dissipations, can greatly enhance the s-wave pairing and superfluidity of spin-1/2 fermions, in distinct contrast to the effect of a real magnetic field. The enhancement can be attributed to the increased coupling constant in low-energy space and the reduced spin gap in forming singlet pairs. We have demonstrated this effect in a number of different fermion systems with and without spin-orbit coupling, using both the two-body exact solution and many-body mean-field theory. Our results suggest an alternative route towards strong fermion superfluid with high superfluid transition temperature.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Stretching p-wave molecules by transverse confinements

We revisit the confinement-induced p-wave resonance in quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) atomic gases and study the induced molecules near resonance. We derive the reduced 1D interaction parameters and show that they can well predict the binding energy of shallow molecules in quasi-1D system. Importantly, these shallow molecules are found to be much more spatially extended compared to those in three dimensions (3D) without transverse confinement. Our results strongly indicate that a p-wave interacting atomic gas can be much more stable in quasi-1D near the induced p-wave resonance, where most weight of the molecule lies outside the short-range regime and thus the atom loss could be suppressed.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Interaction-induced Bloch Oscillation in a Harmonically Trapped and Fermionized Quantum Gas in One Dimension

Motivated by a recent experiment by F. Meinert et al, arxiv:1608.08200, we study the dynamics of an impurity moving in the background of a harmonically trapped one-dimensional Bose gas in the hard-core limit. We show that due to the hidden "lattice" structure of background bosons, the impurity effectively feels a quasi-periodic potential via impurity-boson interactions that can drive the Bloch oscillation under an external force, even in the absence of real lattice potentials. Meanwhile, the inhomogeneous density of trapped bosons imposes an additional harmonic potential to the impurity, resulting in a similar oscillation dynamics but with different periods and amplitudes. We show that the sign and the strength of impurity-boson coupling can significantly affect above two potentials so as to determine the impurity dynamics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Fermion superfluid with hybridized $s$- and $p$-wave pairings

Ever since the pioneering work of Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer in the 1950s, exploring novel pairing mechanisms for fermion superfluids has become one of the central tasks in modern physics. Here, we investigate a new type of fermion superfluid with hybridized $s$- and $p$-wave pairings in an ultracold spin-1/2 Fermi gas. Its occurrence is facilitated by the co-existence of comparable $s$- and $p$-wave interactions, which is realizable in a two-component $^{40}$K Fermi gas with close-by $s$- and $p$-wave Feshbach resonances. The hybridized superfluid state is stable over a considerable parameter region on the phase diagram, and can lead to intriguing patterns of spin densities and pairing fields in momentum space. In particular, it can induce a phase-locked $p$-wave pairing in the fermion species that has no $p$-wave interactions. The hybridized nature of this novel superfluid can also be confirmed by measuring the $s$-wave and $p$-wave contacts, which can be extracted from the high-momentum tail of the momentum distribution of each spin component. These results enrich our knowledge of pairing superfluidity in Fermi systems, and open the avenue for achieving novel fermion superfluids with multiple partial-wave scatterings in cold atomic gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Spin-orbit coupled ultracold gases in optical lattices: High-band physics and insufficiency of tight-binding models

We study the interplay effect of spin-orbit coupling(SOC) and optical lattice to the single-particle physics and superfluid-insulator transition in ultracold Fermi gases. We consider the type of SOC that has been realized in cold atoms experiments via two-photon Raman processes. Our analyses are based on the knowledge of full single-particle spectrum in lattices, without relying on any tightbinding approximation.We evaluate existing tight-binding models and point out their limitations in predicting the correct single-particle physics due to the missed high-band contributions. Moreover, we show that the Raman field (creating SOC) can induce band-gap closing in a two-dimensional optical lattice, leading to the intriguing phenomenon of superfluidity-reentrance for interacting fermions at integer filling. We present the superfluid-insulator phase diagram in a wide parameter regime of chemical potentials and Raman fields. All these results are far beyond any tight-binding model can predict, and can be directly probed in current cold atoms experiments.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Three-component Ultracold Fermi Gases with Spin-Orbit Coupling

We investigate the pairing physics in a three-component Fermi-Fermi mixture, where a few impurities are immersed in a non-interacting spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Fermi gas with synthetic spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and interact attractively with one spin species in the Fermi gas. Due to the interplay of SOC and spin-selective interaction, the molecular state intrinsically acquires a non-zero center-of-mass momentum, which results in a new type of Fulde-Ferrell (FF) pairing in spin-orbit coupled Fermi systems. The existence of the Fermi sea can also lead to the competition between FF-like molecular states with different center-of-mass momenta, which corresponds to a first-order transition between FF phases in the thermodynamic limit. As the interaction strength is tuned, a polaron-molecule transition occurs in the highly imbalanced system, where the boundary varies non-monotonically with SOC parameters and gives rise to the reentrance of polaron states. The rich physics in this system can be probed using existing experimental techniques.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗