Proposed method to realize the p-wave superfluid state using an s-wave superfluid Fermi gas with a synthetic spin-orbit interaction

We propose a theoretical idea to reach the p-wave superfluid phase in an ultracold Fermi gas. The key of our idea is that the pairing symmetry of a Fermi superfluid is fully dominated by the symmetry of the superfluid order parameter, which is essentially given by the product of a pair amplitude and a pairing interaction. Noting this, in our proposal, we first prepare a p-wave pair amplitude not by using a p-wave interaction, but by using the phenomenon that a p-wave pair amplitude is induced in an s-wave superfluid Fermi gas with antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction. In this case, although the system is still in the s-wave superfluid state with the s-wave superfluid order parameter, when one suddenly replaces the s-wave interaction by an appropriate p-wave one (which is possible in cold Fermi gases by using a Feshbach resonance technique), the product of the p-wave interaction and the p-wave pair amplitude that has already been prepared in the spin-orbit-coupled s-wave superfluid state immediately gives a finite p-wave superfluid order parameter. Thus, at least just after this manipulation, the system is in the p-wave superfluid state, being characterized by the artificially produced p-wave superfluid parameter. In this paper, to assess our idea, we evaluate the p-wave pair amplitude in a spin-orbit-coupled s-wave superfluid Fermi gas at T = 0. We determine the region where a large p-wave pair amplitude is obtained in the phase diagram with respect to the strengths of the s-wave pairing interaction and the spin-orbit coupling. We also discuss the accessibility of this optimal region on the viewpoint of the superfluid phase transition temperature. Since the achievement of a p-wave superfluid Fermi gas is one of the most crucial issues in cold-atom physics, our proposal would be useful for this exciting challenge.