Topological supersolidity of dipolar Fermi gases in a spin-dependent optical lattice

J Phys Condens Matter. 2020 May 27;32(23):235701. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/ab7871.

Abstract

We investigate the topological supersolid states of dipolar Fermi gases trapped in a spin-dependent 2D optical lattice. Our results show that topological supersolid states can be achieved via the combination of topological superfluid states with the stripe order. Different from the general held belief that supersolid state in fermionic system can only survive with simultaneous coexistence of the repulsive and attractive dipolar interaction. We demonstrate that it can be maintained when the dipolar interaction is attractive in both x and y direction. By adjusting the ratio of hopping amplitude between different directions and dipolar interaction strength U, the system will undergo a phase transition among p x + ip y superfluid state, p y -wave superfluid state, and the topological supersolid state. The supersolid state in the attractive environment is proved to be stable by the positive sign of the inverse compressibility. We also design an experimental protocol to realize the staggered next-next-nearest-neighbor hopping via the laser assisted tunneling technique, which is the key to simulate the spin-dependent potential.