The Role of Interaction in the Pairing of Two Spin-orbit Coupled Fermions

Abstract

We investigate the role of a repulsive s-wave interaction in the two-body problem in the presence of spin orbit couplings, motivated by current interests in exploring exotic superfluid phases in spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases. For weak spin orbit coupling where the density of states is not significantly altered, we analytically show that the high-energy states become more important in determining the binding energy when the interaction strength decreases. Consequently, tuning the interaction gives rise to a rich ground state behavior, including a zigzag of the ground state momentum or inducing transitions among the meta-stable states. By exactly solving the two-body problem for a spin-orbit coupled Fermi mixture, we demonstrate that our analysis can also apply to the case when the density of states is significantly modified by the spin-orbit coupling. Our findings pave the way for understanding and controlling the paring of fermions in the presence of spin orbit couplings.