We study the stability region of the topological superfluid phase in a trapped two-dimensional polarized Fermi gas with spin-orbit coupling and across a BCS-BEC crossover. Due to the competition between polarization, pairing interaction, and spin-orbit coupling, the Fermi gas typically phase-separates in the trap. Employing a mean-field approach that guarantees the ground-state solution, we systematically study the structure of the phase separation and investigate in detail the optimal parameter region for the preparation of the topologically nontrivial superfluid phase. We then calculate the momentum space density distribution of the topological superfluid state and demonstrate that the existence of the phase leaves a unique signature in the trap integrated momentum space density distribution which can survive the time-of-flight imaging process.

• Received 12 October 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063603