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arXiv:2508.21544 · SciPost Physics Core

Remote spin control in Haldane spin chains

Y. del Castillo, Alejandro Ferrón, Joaquín Fernández-Rossier

Published Apr 16, 2026• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider the remote manipulation of the quantum state of the edge emergent spins of Haldane spin chains using a weak local perturbation on the opposite edge. We derive an effective four-level model that correctly captures the response of the local magnetization to local perturbations and we use it to show that applying a small local field on one edge of the chain induces a strong variation of the magnetization on the opposite edge. Using a Landau-Zener protocol, we show how local control of the field on one edge of the chain, implemented, for instance, with a spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscope tip, can adiabatically switch the magnetization direction on the other side of the chain.

DOI
10.21468/scipostphyscore.9.2.024

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We consider the remote manipulation of the quantum state of the edge emergent spins of Haldane spin chains using a weak local perturbation on the opposite edge. We derive an effective four-level model that correctly captures the response of the local magnetization to local perturbations and we use it to show that applying a small local field on one edge of the chain induces a strong variation of the magnetization on the opposite edge. Using a Landau-Zener protocol, we show how local control of the field on one edge of the chain, implemented, for instance, with a spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscope tip, can adiabatically switch the magnetization direction on the other side of the chain.
Antiferromagnetic spin-1 chains host the celebrated symmetry-protected topological Haldane phase, whose spin-1/21/21/2 edge states were evidenced in bulk by, e.g., electron spin resonance (ESR). To fully reveal and manipulate the spin-1/21/21/2 degree of freedom, one may build on the recent success in assembling effective spin-1 antiferromagnetic chains from nanographene and porphyrin molecules, and on the nascent technique of combined ESR and scanning tunneling microscopy, which is able to measure the spin dynamics site by site with atomic real-space resolution. In this Letter, we combine exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group to investigate the local dynamic spin structure factor of the different phases of the bilinear-biquadratic Hamiltonian with single-ion anisotropy in the presence of an external magnetic field. We find that the signature of the Haldane phase is a low-energy peak created by singlet-triplet transitions in the edge-state manifold. We predict that the signature peak is experimentally observable, although for chains of length above N=30N=30N=30 its energy should be first tuned by application of an external magnetic field. We fully characterize the peak in real space and energy, and further show its robustness to weak anisotropy and a relevant range of temperatures.
We propose a quantum-state transfer protocol in a spin chain that requires only the control of the spins at the ends of the quantum wire. The protocol is to a large extent insensitive to inhomogeneity caused by local magnetic fields and perturbation of exchange couplings. Moreover, apart from the free evolution regime, it allows one to induce an adiabatic spin transfer, which provides the possibility of performing the transfer on demand. We also show that the amount of information leaking into the central part of the chain is small throughout the whole transfer process (which protects the information sent from being eavesdropped) and can be controlled by the magnitude of the external magnetic field.
We explore the edge defects induced by spin-spin interaction in a finite paradigmatic Heisenberg spin chain. By introducing a gradient magnetic field and a periodically modulated spin-exchange strength, the resonance between modulation frequency and magnetic-field gradient can also induce asymmetric defects at the edges, dubbed as Floquet-Wannier-Zeeman edge defects. The interplay between these two types of edge defects allows us to manipulate the magnon edge states from an isolated band into a continuum one. In the high-frequency regime, we analytically derive effective models to interpret the formation mechanisms for edge states by employing the multiscale perturbation analysis. Our study offers insights to understand and control the magnon edge states governed by the interplay between edge defects induced by the spin-spin interaction and the Floquet-Wannier-Zeeman manipulation.
We predict edge defects induced by spin-spin interaction in a paradigmatic Heisenberg spin chain. Such defects proportional to interaction can trap one magnon and magnon pair which are termed as one-magnon edge state and bound-magnon edge states, respectively. Besides, there are modulation-induced defects by introducing a time-periodic tunneling. The interplay between the two types of defects allows us to switch one of the defects and manipulate the interaction-induced bound-magnon edge state into the continuum this http URL the high-frequency regime, we analytically derive an effective model by a multiscale perturbation analysis to interpret the corresponding physical mechanisms for edge physics. Our work makes an important progress in understanding the edge physics of spin chains which has been overlooked for a long time, but also offers a new route to control the quantum dynamics of magnons.
Both the Haldane spin-111 chain and dimerized chains of spin-1/21/21/2 exhibit topologically protected edge states that are robust against specific perturbations. Recently, such spin chains have been specifically assembled on surfaces and we investigate here the robustness of these edge states against coupling to the surface. Since no physical system can be considered perfectly isolated, it is crucial to examine whether topological robustness is maintained in the presence of environmental coupling. We apply exact diagonalization to a Lindblad master equation that couples an alternating Heisenberg spin chain based on spins 1/21/21/2 to a surface via various jump operators. The robustness of topological states is assessed via the time evolution of quantities such as the ground-state degeneracy, correlation function, entropy, and magnetization of edge states. We investigate chains built from dimers with antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic intra-dimer coupling, which resemble Su-Schrieffer-Heeger and the Haldane models, resp., and assess the impact of zzz-axis anisotropy and longer-ranged couplings. Generally, we find that signatures of topological properties are more robust in Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-like chains than in Haldane-like chains.
Propagation of soliton-like excitations along spin chains has been proposed as a possible way for transmitting both classical and quantum information between two distant parties with negligible dispersion and dissipation. In this work, a somewhat different use of solitons is considered. Solitons propagating along a spin chain realize an effective magnetic field, well localized in space and time, which can be exploited as a means to manipulate the state of an external spin (i.e., a qubit) that is weakly coupled to the chain. We have investigated different couplings between the qubit and the chain, as well as different soliton shapes, according to a Heisenberg chain model. It is found that symmetry properties strongly affect the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, and the most suitable setups for implementing single qubit quantum gates are singled out.