Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2003.04272 · Physical Review Letters

Floquet Engineering Correlated Materials with Unpolarized Light

Victor L. Quito, Rebecca Flint

Published Apr 27, 2021• 24 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Floquet engineering is a powerful tool that drives materials with periodic light. Traditionally, the light is monochromatic, with amplitude, frequency, and polarization varied. We introduce Floquet engineering via unpolarized light built from quasimonochromatic light and show how it can modify strongly correlated systems, while preserving the original symmetries. Different types of unpolarized light can realize different strongly correlated phases As an example, we treat insulating magnetic materials on a triangular lattice and show how unpolarized light can induce a Dirac spin liquid.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.126.177201

Related papers

Polarization as a tuning parameter for Floquet engineering: Magnetism in the honeycomb, square, and triangular Mott insulators

Victor L. Quito, Rebecca Flint

Magnetic exchange couplings can be tuned by coupling to periodic light, where the frequency and amplitude are typically varied: a process known as Floquet engineering. The polarization of the light is also important, and in this paper, we show how different polarizations, including several types of unpolarized light, can tune the exchange couplings in distinct ways. Using unpolarized light, for example, it is possible to tune the material without breaking either time-reversal or any lattice symmetries. To illustrate these effects generically, we consider single-band Hubbard models at half-filling on the honeycomb, square and triangular lattices. We derive the effective Heisenberg spin models to fourth order in perturbation theory for arbitrary fixed polarizations, and several types of unpolarized light that preserve time-reversal and lattice symmetries. Coupling these models to periodic light tunes first, second, and third neighbor exchange couplings, as well as ring exchange terms on the square and triangular lattices. Circularly polarized light induces chiral fields for the honeycomb and triangular lattices, which favors noncoplanar magnetism and potential chiral spin liquids. We discuss how to maximize the enhancement of the couplings without inducing heating.

arXiv:2003.05933•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Apr 23, 2021•15 citations

Floquet engineering multichannel Kondo physics

Victor L. Quito, Rebecca Flint

Floquet engineering has been used to engineer novel interactions in uncorrelated and magnetic insulating materials. Here, the authors apply this technique to simple heavy-fermion models, showing that driving these systems with periodic light introduces emergent Kondo screening channels with distinct symmetries, where the allowed channels are controlled by the light polarization. These systems can be driven through multichannel degeneracy points, dynamically realizing multichannel Kondo impurities and lattices that can be used to explore quantum critical phenomena and potentially enhance superconductivity.

arXiv:2111.07994•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Oct 13, 2023•5 citations

Floquet engineering of Kitaev quantum magnets

Umesh Kumar, Saikat Banerjee, Shi‐Zeng Lin

Abstract In recent years, there has been an intense search for materials realizing the Kitaev quantum spin liquid model. A number of edge-shared compounds with strong spin-orbit coupling, such as RuCl3 and iridates, have been proposed to realize this model. Nevertheless, an effective spin Hamiltonian derived from the microscopic model relevant to these compounds generally contains terms that are antagonistic toward the quantum spin liquid. This is consistent with the fact that the zero magnetic field ground state of these materials is generally magnetically ordered. It is a pressing issue to identify protocols to drive the system to the limit of the Kitaev quantum spin model. In this work, we propose Floquet engineering of these Kitaev quantum magnets by coupling materials to a circularly polarized laser. We demonstrate that all the magnetic interactions can be tuned in situ by the amplitude and frequency of the laser, hence providing a route to stabilize the Kitaev quantum spin liquid phase.

arXiv:2111.01316•Communications Physics•Jun 17, 2022•30 citations

Orbital Floquet engineering of exchange interactions in magnetic materials

Swati Chaudhary, David Hsieh, Gil Refael

We present a scheme to control the spin-exchange interactions by manipulating the orbital degrees of freedom using a periodic drive. We discuss two different protocols for orbital Floquet engineering. In one case, a periodic drive modifies the properties of the ligand orbitals which mediate magnetic interactions between transition-metal ions. In the other case, we consider drive-induced mixing of $d$ orbitals on each magnetic ion. We first find that an AC Stark shift of orbitals induces a change comparable to that induced from photoinduced hopping schemes, but expands the applicable frequency ranges. Next, we find that radiatively induced coherent vibrations provide a realistic path for Floquet orbital engineering with short pulses of electric fields weaker than 0.5 V/\AA{} producing $5%--10%$ changes in the magnetic coupling of Mott insulators such as the rare-earth titanates.

arXiv:1905.03921•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Dec 9, 2019•34 citations

Electronic Floquet gyro-liquid crystal

Iliya Esin, Gaurav Kumar Gupta, Erez Berg +2 more

Floquet engineering uses coherent time-periodic drives to realize designer band structures on-demand, thus yielding a versatile approach for inducing a wide range of exotic quantum many-body phenomena. Here we show how this approach can be used to induce non-equilibrium correlated states with spontaneously broken symmetry in lightly doped semiconductors. In the presence of a resonant driving field, the system spontaneously develops quantum liquid crystalline order featuring strong anisotropy whose directionality rotates as a function of time. The phase transition occurs in the steady state of the system achieved due to the interplay between the coherent external drive, electron-electron interactions, and dissipative processes arising from the coupling to phonons and the electromagnetic environment. We obtain the phase diagram of the system using numerical calculations that match predictions obtained from a phenomenological treatment and discuss the conditions on the system and the external drive under which spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs. Our results demonstrate that coherent driving can be used to induce non-equilibrium quantum phases of matter with dynamical broken symmetry.

arXiv:2007.07909•Nature Communications•Sep 6, 2021•11 citations

Floquet engineering magnetism and superconductivity in the square-lattice Hubbard model

Jan-Niklas Herre, Takuya Okugawa, Ammon Fischer +2 more

We study the interplay of magnetic order and superconductivity in the square-lattice Hubbard model under periodic driving with circularly polarized light. Formulating diagrammatic techniques based on the random-phase approximation in terms of Floquet Green's functions, allows us to analyze fluctuation-driven unconventional pairing for weak to moderate interactions. The interplay of repulsive interactions and photoassisted hopping of electrons gives rise to a rich magnetic phase diagram featuring an antiferromagnetic-to-ferromagnetic transition prior to a Floquet Lifshitz transition. Close to the antiferromagnetic transition, topological d + i d -wave superconductivity prevails in the phase diagram for a wide range of drive parameters. At intermediate- to high-frequency driving near the Floquet Lifshitz transition, superconducting orders are tuned from spin-singlet d -wave to spin-triplet p -wave character, providing an effective protocol for Floquet engineering topological superconductivity.

arXiv:2511.11798•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Feb 17, 2026•1 citation
Floquet engineering is a powerful tool that drives materials with periodic light. Traditionally, the light is monochromatic, with amplitude, frequency, and polarization varied. We introduce Floquet engineering via unpolarized light built from quasimonochromatic light and show how it can modify strongly correlated systems, while preserving the original symmetries. Different types of unpolarized light can realize different strongly correlated phases As an example, we treat insulating magnetic materials on a triangular lattice and show how unpolarized light can induce a Dirac spin liquid.
Magnetic exchange couplings can be tuned by coupling to periodic light, where the frequency and amplitude are typically varied: a process known as Floquet engineering. The polarization of the light is also important, and in this paper, we show how different polarizations, including several types of unpolarized light, can tune the exchange couplings in distinct ways. Using unpolarized light, for example, it is possible to tune the material without breaking either time-reversal or any lattice symmetries. To illustrate these effects generically, we consider single-band Hubbard models at half-filling on the honeycomb, square and triangular lattices. We derive the effective Heisenberg spin models to fourth order in perturbation theory for arbitrary fixed polarizations, and several types of unpolarized light that preserve time-reversal and lattice symmetries. Coupling these models to periodic light tunes first, second, and third neighbor exchange couplings, as well as ring exchange terms on the square and triangular lattices. Circularly polarized light induces chiral fields for the honeycomb and triangular lattices, which favors noncoplanar magnetism and potential chiral spin liquids. We discuss how to maximize the enhancement of the couplings without inducing heating.
Floquet engineering has been used to engineer novel interactions in uncorrelated and magnetic insulating materials. Here, the authors apply this technique to simple heavy-fermion models, showing that driving these systems with periodic light introduces emergent Kondo screening channels with distinct symmetries, where the allowed channels are controlled by the light polarization. These systems can be driven through multichannel degeneracy points, dynamically realizing multichannel Kondo impurities and lattices that can be used to explore quantum critical phenomena and potentially enhance superconductivity.
Abstract In recent years, there has been an intense search for materials realizing the Kitaev quantum spin liquid model. A number of edge-shared compounds with strong spin-orbit coupling, such as RuCl3 and iridates, have been proposed to realize this model. Nevertheless, an effective spin Hamiltonian derived from the microscopic model relevant to these compounds generally contains terms that are antagonistic toward the quantum spin liquid. This is consistent with the fact that the zero magnetic field ground state of these materials is generally magnetically ordered. It is a pressing issue to identify protocols to drive the system to the limit of the Kitaev quantum spin model. In this work, we propose Floquet engineering of these Kitaev quantum magnets by coupling materials to a circularly polarized laser. We demonstrate that all the magnetic interactions can be tuned in situ by the amplitude and frequency of the laser, hence providing a route to stabilize the Kitaev quantum spin liquid phase.
We present a scheme to control the spin-exchange interactions by manipulating the orbital degrees of freedom using a periodic drive. We discuss two different protocols for orbital Floquet engineering. In one case, a periodic drive modifies the properties of the ligand orbitals which mediate magnetic interactions between transition-metal ions. In the other case, we consider drive-induced mixing of ddd orbitals on each magnetic ion. We first find that an AC Stark shift of orbitals induces a change comparable to that induced from photoinduced hopping schemes, but expands the applicable frequency ranges. Next, we find that radiatively induced coherent vibrations provide a realistic path for Floquet orbital engineering with short pulses of electric fields weaker than 0.5 V/\AA{} producing 55%--10%5 changes in the magnetic coupling of Mott insulators such as the rare-earth titanates.
Floquet engineering uses coherent time-periodic drives to realize designer band structures on-demand, thus yielding a versatile approach for inducing a wide range of exotic quantum many-body phenomena. Here we show how this approach can be used to induce non-equilibrium correlated states with spontaneously broken symmetry in lightly doped semiconductors. In the presence of a resonant driving field, the system spontaneously develops quantum liquid crystalline order featuring strong anisotropy whose directionality rotates as a function of time. The phase transition occurs in the steady state of the system achieved due to the interplay between the coherent external drive, electron-electron interactions, and dissipative processes arising from the coupling to phonons and the electromagnetic environment. We obtain the phase diagram of the system using numerical calculations that match predictions obtained from a phenomenological treatment and discuss the conditions on the system and the external drive under which spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs. Our results demonstrate that coherent driving can be used to induce non-equilibrium quantum phases of matter with dynamical broken symmetry.
We study the interplay of magnetic order and superconductivity in the square-lattice Hubbard model under periodic driving with circularly polarized light. Formulating diagrammatic techniques based on the random-phase approximation in terms of Floquet Green's functions, allows us to analyze fluctuation-driven unconventional pairing for weak to moderate interactions. The interplay of repulsive interactions and photoassisted hopping of electrons gives rise to a rich magnetic phase diagram featuring an antiferromagnetic-to-ferromagnetic transition prior to a Floquet Lifshitz transition. Close to the antiferromagnetic transition, topological d + i d -wave superconductivity prevails in the phase diagram for a wide range of drive parameters. At intermediate- to high-frequency driving near the Floquet Lifshitz transition, superconducting orders are tuned from spin-singlet d -wave to spin-triplet p -wave character, providing an effective protocol for Floquet engineering topological superconductivity.