Metal-Insulator-Superconductor transition of spin-3/2 atoms on optical lattices

Abstract

We use a slave-rotor approach within a mean-field theory to study the competition of metallic, Mott-insulating, and superconducting phases of spin-3/2 fermions subjected to a periodic optical lattice potential. In addition to the metallic, the Mott-insulating, and the superconducting phases that are associated with the gauge symmetry breaking of the spinon field, we identify a novel emerging superconducting phase that breaks both roton and spinon field gauge symmetries. This novel superconducting phase emerges as a result of the competition between spin-0 singlet and spin-2 quintet interaction channels naturally available for spin-3/2 systems. The two superconducting phases can be distinguished from each other by quasiparticle weight. We further discuss the properties of these phases for both two-dimensional square and three-dimensional cubic lattices at zero and finite temperatures.