10.6084/m9.figshare.1012012.v1 Sylvain Nascimbène Sylvain Nascimbène (a) General scheme of the setup, consisting of quasi-1D gases of fermionic atoms coupled to a 2D gas of condensed molecules IOP Publishing 2013 2 D gas ultracold fermionic atoms 1 D gas Majorana edge state 1 D system Cooper pair reservoir fermionic atoms atom pair tunnelling topological superfluid phase 1 D tubes acts topological superfluid boundaries lattice superfluid gap 1 D tube Atomic Physics Molecular Physics 2013-06-24 00:00:00 Figure https://iop.figshare.com/articles/figure/_a_General_scheme_of_the_setup_consisting_of_quasi_1D_gases_of_fermionic_atoms_coupled_to_a_2D_gas_o/1012012 <p><strong>Figure 1.</strong> (a) General scheme of the setup, consisting of quasi-1D gases of fermionic atoms coupled to a 2D gas of condensed molecules. The tunnelling of atom pairs into the 1D tubes acts as a superfluid gap applied externally. A spin-dependent optical lattice is applied along the tube, leading to an effective lattice with spin ↑ (↓) particles localized in the even (odd) sites. Atom tunnelling inside the tube is driven by Raman lasers, leading to the realization of Kitaev's model of a p-wave superfluid. (b) Scheme of the atom pair tunnelling from <em>A</em> to <em>B</em>, resonant for <em>E<sub>b</sub></em> = 2 δ.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>We propose an experimental implementation of a topological superfluid with ultracold fermionic atoms. An optical superlattice is used to juxtapose a 1D gas of fermionic atoms and a 2D conventional superfluid of condensed Feshbach molecules. The latter acts as a Cooper pair reservoir and effectively induces a superfluid gap in the 1D system. Combined with a spin-dependent optical lattice along the 1D tube and laser-induced atom tunnelling, we obtain a topological superfluid phase. In the regime of weak couplings to the molecular field and for a uniform gas, the atomic system is equivalent to Kitaev's model of a p-wave superfluid. Using a numerical calculation, we show that the topological superfluidity is robust beyond the perturbative limit and in the presence of a harmonic trap. Finally, we describe how to investigate some physical properties of the Majorana fermions located at the topological superfluid boundaries. In particular, we discuss how to prepare and detect a given Majorana edge state.</p>