Search for Majorana Fermions in S-Wave Fermionic Superfluids
Abstract
Majorana fermions (MFs) are quantum particles that are their own anti-particles, and satisfy non-Abelian exchange statistics. The latter is the key for their potential use in fault-tolerant topological quantum computation. In this project, we proposed to investigate the possibility of realizing MFs in much more physically robust s-wave superfluids by utilizing two additional components: spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman fields. In the last year grant period, we have made the following important achievements: 1)We found a large BKT transition temperature due to large effective superfluid densities in a spin-orbit coupled Fulde-Ferrell superfluid, making it possible to observe 2D Fulde-Ferrell superfluids at finite temperature;2) Collaborated with Ian Speilmans group, we demonstrated the tunable spin-orbit coupling through the modulation of the Raman coupling strength in experiments; 3)We found that the spin-orbit coupled Fulde-Ferrell superfluids can support Weyl points or rings with nontrivial topological structures; 4)We proposed and experimentally realized a new type of tunable spin-orbit coupling using optical lattice band pseudospins. The research leads to 23 peer-reviewed publications, including 4 in Physical Review Letters and 1 in Nature Communications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1011257
Entities
People
- Chuanwei Zhang
- Sumanta Tewari
Organizations
- University of Texas at Dallas