Spin-Orbit Coupled Fermi Gases across a Feshbach Resonance

Abstract

In this letter we study both ground state properties and the superfluid transition temperature of a spin-1/2 Fermi gas across a Feshbach resonance with a synthetic spin-orbit coupling, using mean-field theory and exact solution of two-body problem. We show that a strong spin-orbit coupling can significantly enhance the pairing gap for 1/(k_F a_s)<=0 due to increased density-of-state. Strong spin-orbit coupling also significantly enhances the superfluid transition temperature when 1/(k_F a_s)<=0, while suppresses it slightly when 1/(k_F a_s)>0. The universal interaction energy and pair size at resonance are also discussed.

4+3 pages, 4 figures, supplementary material added