Topological superradiance in a degenerate Fermi gas

Abstract

We predict the existence of a topological superradiant state in a two-component degenerate Fermi gas in a cavity. The superradiant light generation in the transversely driven cavity mode induces a cavity-assisted spin-orbit coupling in the system and opens a bulk gap at half-filling. This mechanism can simultaneously drive a topological phase transition in the system, yielding a topological superradiant phase. We map out the steady-state phase diagram of the system in the presence of an effective Zeeman field, and identify a critical quadracritical point beyond which the topological and the conventional superraidiant phase boundaries separate. We also propose to detect the topological phase transitions based on the unique signatures in the momentum-space density distribution.