We discuss the emergence of $p$-wave superfluidity of identical atomic fermions in a two-dimensional optical lattice. The optical lattice potential manifests itself in an interplay between an increase in the density of states on the Fermi surface and the modification of the fermion-fermion interaction (scattering) amplitude. The density of states is enhanced due to an increase of the effective mass of atoms. In deep lattices the scattering amplitude is strongly reduced compared to free space due to a small overlap of wave functions of fermions sitting in the neighboring lattice sites, which suppresses the $p$-wave superfluidity. However, for moderate lattice depths the enhancement of the density of states can compensate the decrease of the scattering amplitude. Moreover, the lattice setup significantly reduces inelastic collisional losses, which allows one to get closer to a $p$-wave Feshbach resonance. This opens possibilities to obtain the topological $p_x+i{p}_y$ superfluid phase, especially in the recently proposed subwavelength lattices. We demonstrate this for the two-dimensional version of the Kronig-Penney model allowing a transparent physical analysis.

• Received 6 February 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.043615