Description
I will discuss a novel route to topological superfluidity in
repulsive fermionic systems.
The physical mechanism leading to pairing, and thus
superfluid behavior, is driven by
local kinetic-energy fluctuations and can be realized, for
instance, in multiband
systems with dissimilar localization properties.
Specifically, we propose to observe
this phenomenon in an optical superlattice with
alkaline-earth fermionic atoms, e.g.
Yb or Sr, carefully engineered to host itinerant and
spatially localized atoms whose
quantum fluctuations mediate an attractive interaction
between itinerant ones. This
mechanism gives rise to a topological $p$-wave superfluid
state in quasi-one-dimensional
wires, and a chiral p_x+ip_y superfluid in two dimensions.
Most importantly, we have
developed several experimental probes to characterize the
superfluid state, including
momentum-resolved RF spectroscopy and an analog of the
Edelstein magneto-electric
effect.
