Itinerant magnetism in Weyl spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas

Abstract

Magnetic ordering of itinerant fermionic systems is at the forefront of condensed matter physics dating back to Stoner's instability. Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) which couples two essential ingredients of an itinerant fermionic system, namely spin and orbital motion, opens up new horizons to this long-standing problem. Here we report that the itinerant ferromagnetism is absent in 3D Fermi gas with a Weyl SOC and various itinerant spin density waves emerge instead, which is deeply rooted in the unique symmetry and spin-momentum locking effect in spin-orbit coupled systems. What is more appealing is that, the strong SOC provides a new and efficient mechanism to realize itinerant spin density waves at extremely weak repulsion---a significant benefit for present ultra-cold atom experiment. These novel phenomena can be probed by Bragg spectroscopy, time of flight imaging and {\sl In-Situ } measurements in ultra-cold atom experiment.