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arXiv:1506.00643 · Physical Review B

1/fα noise and generalized diffusion in random Heisenberg spin systems

Kartiek Agarwal, Eugene Demler, Ivar Martin

Published Nov 24, 2015• 24 citations
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Abstract

We study the ``flux-noise'' spectrum of random-bond quantum Heisenberg spin systems using a real-space renormalization group (RSRG) procedure that accounts for both the renormalization of the system Hamiltonian and of a generic probe that measures the noise. For spin chains, we find that the dynamical structure factor ${S}_{q}(f)$, at finite wave vector $q$, exhibits a power-law behavior both at high and low frequencies $f$, with exponents that are connected to one another and to an anomalous dynamical exponent through relations that differ at $T=0$ and $T=\ensuremath{\infty}$. The low-frequency power-law behavior of the structure factor is inherited by any generic probe with a finite bandwidth and is of the form $1/{f}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with $0.5<\ensuremath{\alpha}<1$. An analytical calculation of the structure factor, assuming a limiting distribution of the RG flow parameters (spin size, length, bond strength) confirms numerical findings. More generally, we demonstrate that this form of the structure factor, at high temperatures, is a manifestation of anomalous diffusion which directly follows from a generalized spin-diffusion propagator. We also argue that $1/f$-noise is intimately connected to many-body-localization at finite temperatures. In two dimensions, the RG procedure is less reliable; however, it becomes convergent for quasi-one-dimensional geometries where we find that one-dimensional $1/{f}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ behavior is recovered at low frequencies; the latter configurations are likely representative of paramagnetic spin networks that produce $1/{f}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ noise in SQUIDs.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.92.184203

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Impurity spins randomly distributed at the surfaces and interfaces of superconducting wires are known to cause flux noise in superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), providing a dominant mechanism for decoherence in flux-tunable superconducting qubits. While flux noise is well characterized experimentally, the microscopic model underlying spin dynamics remains a great puzzle. The main problem is that first-principles theories based on an integration of the quantum Heisenberg equations of motion for interacting spins are too computationally expensive to capture spin diffusion over large length scales, hindering comparisons between microscopic models and experimental data. In contrast, third-principles approaches lump spin dynamics into a single phenomenological spin-diffusion operator $D{\ensuremath{\nabla}}^{2}$ that is not able to describe the quantum noise regime and connect to microscopic models and different disorder scenarios such as spin clusters. Here we propose an intermediate ``second-principles'' method to describe general spin dissipation and flux noise in the quantum regime. It leads to the interpretation that flux noise arises from the density of paramagnon excitations at the edge of the superconducting wire, with paramagnon-paramagnon interactions leading to spin diffusion, and interactions between paramagnons and other degrees of freedom such as phonons, electrons, and two-level systems leading to spin energy relaxation. At high frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$, we obtain an upper bound for flux noise, showing that the (super)Ohmic noise observed in experiments is not originating from interacting spin impurities. We apply the method to Heisenberg models in two-dimensional square lattices with a random distribution of vacancies, with nearest-neighbor spins coupled by a constant exchange. Explicit numerical calculations of flux noise show that it follows the observed power law $A/{\ensuremath{\omega}}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$, with amplitude AAA and exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ depending on temperature and inhomogeneities such as spatial confinement and disorder. These results are compared to experiments in niobium and aluminum devices. The method establishes a connection between flux noise experiments and microscopic Hamiltonians with the goal of identifying relevant microscopic mechanisms and guiding strategies for reducing flux noise.
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The quantum renormalization-group technique recently developed by Chakravarty and the present author is used to study weak random couplings in quantum-mechanical and classical nearest-neighbor Heisenberg ferromagnets in D=2+\ensuremath{\epsilon} dimensions and at low temperatures T. Momentum-shell recursion relations are obtained by considering the renormalization-group transformations of the cumulants of the probability distribution of the random exchange couplings. From a one-loop calculation it is found that, if the second cumulants ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}$ of the random couplings are smaller than a critical value ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{c}^{2}$, the only modification due to randomness in the low-temperature behavior of the order-parameter correlation length \ensuremath{\xi} in two dimensions is a renormalization of the spin stiffness ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}$ according to ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}$(X)=(1-X${)}^{\ensuremath{\varphi}}$${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}$(0), where X=${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}$/${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{c}^{2}$ and \ensuremath{\varphi}=(1/3 within the one-loop approximation. At zero temperature \ensuremath{\xi} diverges for with ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{x}$=1/D. Precisely at X=1 the critical behavior of the system is characterized by new exponents; the dynamical critical exponent z is given by z=2+\ensuremath{\varphi}/${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{x}$. For D(1-\ensuremath{\varphi})>2 a new phase appears in the T-X phase diagram, and it is argued that this phase is characterized by spin-glass order.
We have carried out Monte Carlo studies of a random-exchange antiferromagnetic spin-(1/2) chain. For systems with XY-like (anisotropic) and with Heisenberg (isotropic) coupling, our results confirm the existence of a disorder-induced low-temperature (T) divergence in the long-wavelength Sz{S}^{z}Sz-Sz{S}^{z}Sz susceptibility \ensuremath{\chi} which was previously predicted by real-space renormalization-group (RSRG) treatments. Over the finite temperature range studied, these results are consistent with a 1/(T ln2{\mathrm{ln}}^{2}ln2T) behavior of \ensuremath{\chi}, and hence in qualitative agreement with the RSRG results. As in the XY-Heisenberg regime, we also find a disorder-induced enhancement of the low-T susceptibility for a system with Ising-like exchange coupling which, over the finite temperature range studied, is again consistent with RSRG results. However, there are inconsistencies between the RSRG predictions in the Ising-like regime at very low temperatures, and the exact results for the random-exchange Ising chain and the low-temperature behavior of \ensuremath{\chi} in the Ising-like regime may in fact be more complicated than predicted by RSRG. Finally, we also present results for the antiferromagnetic susceptibility and structure factor. For both Heisenberg and Ising-like systems, we find that disorder suppresses the long-range antiferromagnetic correlations at low T.