Condensed Matter Physics Seminar: Topological states in one-dimensional Fermi gases with attractive interactions

Abstract:

Recent experiments demonstrate that by coupling cold-atom Fermi gasses to laser fields one can artificially generate spin-orbit coupling similar to the Rashba effect in semi-conducting nano-wires. In this talk I will show that intrinsic attractive interactions in this gas lead to a novel topological state with Majorana zero modes. The topological state emerges in spite of particle number conservation and the absence of a single particle gap. I will also discuss the effects of disorder and show that the cold atom setup is ideally suited to realize and probe this topological state.

Seminar Organizer: Prof. Shimshon Barad