Dynamical structure factor and a new method to measure the pairing gap in two-dimensional attractive Fermi–Hubbard model

Abstract The measurement of the pairing gap is crucial for investigating the physical properties of superconductors or superfluids. We propose a strategy to measure the pairing gap through the dynamical excitations. With the random phase approximation (RPA), we study the dynamical excitations of a two-dimensional attractive Fermi–Hubbard model by calculating its dynamical structure factor. Two distinct collective modes emerge: a Goldstone phonon mode at transferred momentum q = [0,0] and a roton mode at q = [ π , π ]. The roton mode exhibits a sharp molecular peak in the low-energy regime. Notably, the area under the roton molecular peak scales with the square of the pairing gap, which holds even in three-dimensional and spin–orbit coupled (SOC) optical lattices. This finding suggests an experimental approach to measure the pairing gap in lattice systems by analyzing the dynamical structure factor at q = [ π , π ].