We study the spin transport through the quantum spin liquid (QSL) by investigating the real-time and real-space dynamics of the Kitaev spin system with zigzag edges using the time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory. After the magnetic-field pulse is introduced to one of the edges, spin moments are excited in the opposite edge region although spin moments are never induced in the Kitaev QSL region. This unusual spin transport originates from the fact that the S=1/2 spins are fractionalized into the itinerant and localized Majorana fermions in the Kitaev system. Although both Majorana fermions are excited by the magnetic pulse, only the itinerant ones flow through the bulk regime without spin excitations, resulting in the spin transport in the Kitaev system despite the presence of a nonzero spin gap. We also demonstrate that this phenomenon can be observed in the system with small Heisenberg interactions using the exact diagonalization.
We study the spin transport through the quantum spin liquid (QSL) by investigating the real-time and real-space dynamics of the Kitaev spin system with zigzag edges using the time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory. After the magnetic-field pulse is introduced to one of the edges, spin moments are excited in the opposite edge region although spin moments are never induced in the Kitaev QSL region. This unusual spin transport originates from the fact that the S=1/2 spins are fractionalized into the itinerant and localized Majorana fermions in the Kitaev system. Although both Majorana fermions are excited by the magnetic pulse, only the itinerant ones flow through the bulk regime without spin excitations, resulting in the spin transport in the Kitaev system despite the presence of a nonzero spin gap. We also demonstrate that this phenomenon can be observed in the system with small Heisenberg interactions using the exact diagonalization.
We study how stable the Majorana-mediated spin transport in a quantum spin Kitaev model is against thermal fluctuations. Using the time-dependent thermal pure quantum state method, we examine finite-temperature spin dynamics in the Kitaev model. The model exhibits two characteristic temperatures, TL and TH, which correspond to energy scales of the local flux and the itinerant Majorana fermion, respectively. At low temperatures $(T\ensuremath{\ll}{T}_{L})$, an almost flux-free state is realized, and the spin excitation propagates in a similar way to that for the ground state. Namely, after the magnetic pulse is introduced at one of the edges, the itinerant Majorana fermions propagate the spin excitations even through the quantum spin liquid state region, and oscillations in the spin moment appear in the other edge with a tiny magnetic field. When $T\ensuremath{\sim}{T}_{L}$, larger oscillations in the spin moments are induced in the other edge, compared with the results at the ground state. At higher temperatures, excited Z2 fluxes disturb the coherent motion of the itinerant Majorana fermions, which suppresses the spin propagation. Our results demonstrate a crucial role of thermal fluctuations in the Majorana-mediated spin transport.
The Kitaev model offers a platform for quantum spin liquids (QSLs) with fractional excitations, itinerant Majorana fermions and localized fluxes. Since these fractional excitations could be utilized for quantum computing, how to create, observe, and control them through the spin degree of freedom is a central issue. Here, we study dynamical spin transport in a wide range of frequencies for the Kitaev-Heisenberg model, by applying an AC magnetic field to an edge of the system. We find that, in the Kitaev QSL phase, spin polarizations at the other edge are resonantly induced in a specific spin component, even though the static spin correlations are vanishingly small. This interedge spin resonance appears around the input frequency over the broad frequency range. Comparing with the dynamical spin correlations, we clarify that the resonance is governed by the itinerant Majorana fermions with a broad continuum excitation spectrum, which can propagate over long distances, although it vanishes for the pure Kitaev model because of accidental degeneracy and requires weak Heisenberg interactions. We also find that the spin polarizations in the other spin components are weakly induced at an almost constant frequency close to the excitation gap of the localized fluxes, irrespective of the input frequency. These results demonstrate that the dynamical spin transport is a powerful probe of the fractional excitations in the Kitaev QSL. Possible experimental realization of the interedge spin resonance is discussed.
The Kitaev model exhibits a canonical quantum spin liquid as a ground state and hosts two fractional quasiparticles, i.e., itinerant Majorana fermion and localized flux excitation. The former can carry heat and spin modulations in the quantum spin liquid, but the role of the latter remains unknown for the transport phenomena. Here, we focus on spin transport in the presence of excited fluxes and report that they yield strong interference in the propagation of the Majorana fermions, which have a gaugelike potential emergent around the fluxes. We examine the transient spin dynamics triggered by a pulsed magnetic field at an edge. In the absence of excited fluxes, the magnetic-field pulse creates the plane wave of the Majorana fermions, which flows in the quantum spin liquid. Although this wave does not accompany the change of local spin moments in bulk, it induces local moments at the side opposite to the edge under the magnetic-field pulse. We observe the spatial modulation of induced spin moments when fluxes are excited in the bulk region. This behavior is more striking than the case of lattice defects. Moreover, we find that although the amplitude of the spatial change is almost independent of the distance between lattice defects, it is strongly enhanced by increasing the distance for the case of excited fluxes. The difference is understood from the influence on the itinerant Majorana fermions; the lattice defects change the system locally, but flux excitations alter all the transfer integrals on the string connecting them. The present results will provide another route to observing intrinsic flux excitations distinguished from extrinsic effects such as lattice defects.
We investigate the real-time spin response of the S=1 Kitaev model upon stimuli of a pulsed magnetic field in one of the edges using the exact diagonalization method. It is found that the pulsed magnetic field has no effect on the appearance of the spin moments in the quantum spin liquid region, but induces the spin oscillations in the other edge region with a small magnetic field. This is understood by the existence of the itinerant quasiparticles, which carry the spin excitations without the spin polarization in the quantum spin liquid state. This suggests that the spin fractionalizations occur in the S=1 Kitaev model as well as the exactly solvable S=1/2 Kitaev one and the fractionalized quasiparticles play an essential role in the spin transport.
The Kitaev quantum spin liquid possesses two fractional quasiparticles, itinerant Majorana fermions and localized visons. It provides a promising platform for realizing a Majorana zero mode trapped by a vison excitation. This local mode behaves as a non-Abelian anyon capable of applications to quantum computation. However, creating, observing, and manipulating visons remain challenging even in the pristine Kitaev model. Here, we propose a theory to control visons enabled by a time-dependent local magnetic field in the Kitaev spin liquid. Examining the time evolution of the magnetic state, we demonstrate that a vison follows a locally applied field sweeping in the system. We clarify that one can move a vison accompanied by a Majorana zero mode by choosing the velocity and shape of the local field appropriately. In particular, the controllability of visons using local fields shows nonlinear behavior for its strength, which originates from interactions between Majorana fermions and visons. The present results suggest that itinerant Majorana fermions other than zero modes play a crucial role in vison transport. Our finding will offer a guideline for controlling Majorana zero modes in the Kitaev quantum spin liquid.
A quantum spin liquid is a magnetic phase of matter that is remarkable for its ground state long-range entanglement and fractional excitations. A quantum spin liquid appears in the well-known Kitaev honeycomb spin-half model. In a magnetic field, there is a phase transition to a topological phase with an energy gap in the bulk and chiral Majorana fermions at the edge. However, recent nuclear magnetic resonance experiments suggest excitations without a gap in this phase, signalled by the cubic temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation rate at low temperatures. In this work, I propose a mechanism to account for this experimental result. I use the localization of chiral Majorana modes in defects to explain the presence of gapless modes in the bulk. Treating the weak interaction between the chiral modes in the defects within a mean-field approximation, I find that these modes remain gapless when the interaction is below a critical value that depends on the magnetic field strength. I used the effective low-energy theory to calculate the spin-lattice relaxation rate and found a behavior that agrees with the experimental result.