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.
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.
In this paper we examine the possibility of Floquet engineering in the three candidate Kitaev materials Na2IrO3, $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{Li}}_{2}{\mathrm{IrO}}_{3}$, and $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$. We derive an effective Floquet Hamiltonian and give an approximation for heating processes arising from doublon holon propagation. This suggests that compounds with stronger Hund's rule coupling are less prone to heating. We then investigate the impact of light frequency and amplitude on magnetic interaction terms up to third nearest neighbor and find that third neighbor Heisenberg coupling J3 is very susceptible to tuning by circularly polarized light. Finally, we discuss uses of linear polarized light in selectively tuning single bond directions.
Abstract The spin liquid phase is one of the prominent strongly interacting topological phases of matter whose unambiguous confirmation is yet to be reached despite intensive experimental efforts on numerous candidate materials. Recently, a new family of correlated honeycomb materials, in which strong spin-orbit coupling allows for various bond-dependent spin interactions, have been promising candidates to realize the Kitaev spin liquid. Here we study a model with bond-dependent spin interactions and show numerical evidence for the existence of an extended quantum spin liquid region, which is possibly connected to the Kitaev spin liquid state. These results are used to provide an explanation of the scattering continuum seen in neutron scattering on α-RuCl3.
Quantum spin liquids, systems in which quantum fluctuations prevent the magnetic ordering of the spin degrees of freedom down to zero temperature, have been the source of much recent theoretical and experimental interest. These systems are characterised by their long ranged entangled states, preserve symmetries down to zero Kelvin, and have been shown to exhibit fascinating properties such as a topological ground state degeneracy and fractionalised spin excitations. In this thesis, we study several of these phases. The first, Kitaev spin liquids, appear in strongly spin-orbit coupled systems, where the SU(2) spin symmetry is broken. Within our mean field approach, we study the quantum phase transition from the gapless Z 2 spin liquid to a magnetically ordered phase within the Heisenberg-Kitaev model. Beyond the mean field theory, we argue that the gauge structure of the spin liquid plays a crucial role in this transition, leading to a confinement of spinons and the generation of magnetic order. We also discuss the three-dimensional iridate compounds, where the Kitaev spin liquid phase has topologically protected bulk and surface excitations. We next discuss spin liquids appearing on the geometrically frustrated kagome lattice. First, we consider non-Kramers spin liquids, in which the spin structure of the theory is protected by lattice, rather than time-reversal, symmetry. As a result, more phases are allowed, which have different properties than those which transform as Kramers doublets. In addition, these may have positive experimental signatures in the Raman scattering intensity, offering a clear path to detect such a state. Finally, we examine possible spin liquid phases on a breathing kagome lattice, where we find a stable Z2 spin liquid to be the ground state. This may help to guide future numerical studies of the kagome lattice Heisenberg model, and may also be relevant to DQVOF, a recently discovered spin liquid candidate compound.
The exact solution of Kitaev's spin-1/2 honeycomb spin-liquid model has sparked an intense search for Mott insulators hosting bond-dependent Kitaev interactions, of which Na2IrO3 and $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Ru}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{3}$ are prime examples. Subsequently, it has been proposed that also spin-1 and spin-3/2 analogs of Kitaev interactions may occur in materials with strong spin-orbit coupling. As a minimal model to describe these Kitaev materials, we study the Heisenberg-Kitaev Hamiltonian in a consistent 1/S expansion, with S being the spin size. We present a comprehensive study of this model in the presence of an external magnetic field applied along two different directions, [001] and [111], for which an intricate classical phase diagram has been reported. In both settings, we employ spin-wave theory in a number of ordered phases to compute phase boundaries at the next-to-leading order in 1/S and show that quantum corrections substantially modify the classical phase diagram. More broadly, our work presents a consistent route to investigate the leading quantum corrections in spin models that break spin-rotational symmetry.
In the field of quantum magnetism, the exactly solvable Kitaev honeycomb model serves as a paradigm for the fractionalization of spin degrees of freedom and the formation of [Formula: see text] quantum spin liquids. An intense experimental search has led to the discovery of a number of spin-orbit entangled Mott insulators that realize its characteristic bond-directional interactions and, in the presence of magnetic fields, exhibit no indications of long-range order. Here, we map out the complete phase diagram of the Kitaev model in tilted magnetic fields and report the emergence of a distinct gapless quantum spin liquid at intermediate field strengths. Analyzing a number of static, dynamical, and finite temperature quantities using numerical exact diagonalization techniques, we find strong evidence that this phase exhibits gapless fermions coupled to a massless U(1) gauge field. We discuss its stability in the presence of perturbations that naturally arise in spin-orbit entangled candidate materials.
Quantum spin liquids, a highly topologically entangled, dynamically correlated state where quantum fluctuations preclude any long-range ordering down to absolute zero. In the search for a topologically robust qubit, the scientific community has been in continuous hunt for real quantum spin liquid systems. Alexei Kitaev in his exactly solvable model for a spin-1/2 two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, presented a system that hosts a topologically protected state (Majorana zero-modes). Under an applied external field, the Kitaev spin liquids turn into a topologically non-trivial chiral spin-liquid state with non-abelian anionic excitations, which is crucial for quantum computing. Earlier theoretical predictions advocated that Kitaev physics can be realized in spin-orbit-coupled Mott insulators such as honeycomb irradiates and ruthenates. However, the experimental findings continuously challenge the theoretical aspects, indicating the presence of non-Kitaev interactions in real materials, where the dimensionality, disorder (vacancy), chemical composition, generalized spin-S, and external perturbations (pressure, magnetic field, temperature) can actively tune the Kitaev interactions and the ground state excitations. In this review article, a comprehensive discussion is included with an updated literature survey in the context of the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a probe for Kitaev quantum spin liquids.