Abstract The kagome lattice, with its unique geometric structure, has emerged as a leading platform for exploring quantum many-body physics, particularly in the study of quantum spin liquids (QSLs) and unconventional superconductivity. This review highlights recent advancements in the investigations of QSLs, fractional magnetization plateau phases in kagome antiferromagnets, and unconventional superconductivity in vanadium-based kagome superconductors. We begin by examining the classical ground-state properties of the nearest-neighbor kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model and introducing recent experimental progress in the study of QSLs and fractional magnetization plateau phases. Next, we discuss the fermionic description of the QSL states, along with related gauge theory and the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) method. We then focus on discussing the VMC studies of QSLs and magnetization plateau phases in kagome antiferromagnets. For superconductivity in kagome systems, we first analyze the characteristics of the electronic structure and the possible associated electronic instabilities. Finally, we review recent experimental advances in unconventional superconductivity in AV 3 Sb 5 (A = K, Rb, Cs), with a particular focus on chiral superconductivity and pairing density waves.
Abstract The kagome lattice, with its unique geometric structure, has emerged as a leading platform for exploring quantum many-body physics, particularly in the study of quantum spin liquids (QSLs) and unconventional superconductivity. This review highlights recent advancements in the investigations of QSLs, fractional magnetization plateau phases in kagome antiferromagnets, and unconventional superconductivity in vanadium-based kagome superconductors. We begin by examining the classical ground-state properties of the nearest-neighbor kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model and introducing recent experimental progress in the study of QSLs and fractional magnetization plateau phases. Next, we discuss the fermionic description of the QSL states, along with related gauge theory and the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) method. We then focus on discussing the VMC studies of QSLs and magnetization plateau phases in kagome antiferromagnets. For superconductivity in kagome systems, we first analyze the characteristics of the electronic structure and the possible associated electronic instabilities. Finally, we review recent experimental advances in unconventional superconductivity in AV 3 Sb 5 (A = K, Rb, Cs), with a particular focus on chiral superconductivity and pairing density waves.
Ever since the introduction of resonating valence bond states by P.\\ W.\\ Anderson in 1970s, the search for exotic many--body quantum behavior in peculiar states of matter known as quantum spin liquids has been a central challenge in the field of condensed matter physics. An important searching ground for such \\emph{quantum--ness} is the low energy physics of frustrated magnets. In a quantum system, frustration---the inability of a physical system to achieve a global state that consistently minimizes its energy locally---enables the unavoidable quantum fluctuations to hybridize an extensive number of classical states into highly entangled quantum states at low temperatures. It can be argued that this is the most practical approach to achieve genuine many--body quantum behavior at large scales. The fundamental source of frustration in many physical systems, is the existence of local non--commuting terms. In the case of antiferromagnet spin theories the simplest examples are triangles of nearest--neighboring sites. Consequently, lattices with triangles as building blocks have long been studied in hopes of discovering spin liquids physics. In particular the kagome lattice, which is composed of corner--sharing triangles, has been the center of at least four decades of spin liquid research. This is due to the underconstrained nature of system made out of corner--sharing triangles. After the first three chapters, introduction in chapter~\\ref{chap:intro}, preliminary physics in chapter~\\ref{chap:prelim}, and a brief introduction to spin--liquids in chapter~\\ref{chap:QSLs}, in chapter~\\ref{chap:kagome} I tackle a simpler version of the long-standing problem of spin--1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnets by considering a quasi--1D lattice consisting entirely of corner--sharing triangles, \\emph{kagome strip}. I illustrate that the standard Heisenberg antiferromagnet Hamiltonian over kagome strip is an extended gapless quantum phase, that is well characterized by two fermionic/bosonic gapless modes and power--law decaying spin and bond--energy correlations. I also demonstrate that the correlation functions oscillate at tunably incommensurate wave vectors. It turns out that this phase can be identified by a particular marginal instability of a two-band spinon Fermi surface coupled to an emergent U(1) gauge field. This interpretation is supported by analytic Abelian bosonization and with extensive numerical large--scale density matrix renormalization group study as well as variational Monte Carlo calculations on Gutzwiller ans\\"atz wave functions. This intriguing result is the first numerical demonstration of emergent fermionic spinons in a simple SU(2) invariant nearest-neighbor Heisenberg model beyond the strictly 1D (Bethe chain) limit. The unexpected success of the fermionic spinons in describing the low energy physics of kagome antiferromagnet, reintroduces the questions about the validity of spinon physics as an effective theory of quantum spin liquids. However, numerical methods are still far behind the theoretical advances. And still even today, an accurate description of the quantum spin liquid states using tensor network methods is notoriously challenging. It is known that for large quasi-1D systems, the density matrix renormalization group and related methods usually require significant computational resources and sometimes fail to converge to a satisfactory state. On the other hand, variational wavefunctions acquired from the Gutzwiller projection of gaussian fermionic theories have long served as both a theoretical starting point for the construction of such spin liquid states and as an inspiration for numerical variational Monte Carlo (VMC) to calculate observables of interest. Noting this observation I examine a different method by exploring the possibility of constructing a matrix product state (MPS) representation for a Gutzwiller--projected state from two given MPS representations of gaussian fermionic theories in the \\ref{chap:gutz} chapter. I investigate the complexity of different approaches to achieve Gutzwiller projection for MPSs and introduce the novel algorithm which we call the Guzwiller zipper method. The performance of the algorithm is tested against two copies of a single half-filled band of spin-1/2 fermionic spinons. In a successful attempt to describe the nature of spin liquid states on quasi-1D strips of triangular and kagome-like lattices, I apply this method to two MPS of multi-band fermionic spinon theories and compare with the complexity of the traditional VMC approach. In particular, we methodically disprove the conjecture of a spinon fermi surface spin liquid for the triangular lattice. Finally, I conclude this thesis by laying out a bird's eye view of the current and future of spin liquid physics in kagome and triangular lattices and pointing out numerous possible applications of the novel Gutzwiller zipper method. In addition, I would also discuss its possible extensions to more complicated tensor networks as well as versions for higher spatial dimensions.
Frustrated spin systems on kagome lattices have long been considered to be a promising candidate for realizing exotic spin-liquid phases. Recently, there has been a lot of renewed interest in these systems with the discovery of materials such as volborthite and herbertsmithite that have kagomelike structures. In the presence of an external magnetic field, these frustrated systems can give rise to magnetization plateaus of which the plateau at m=31 is considered to be the most prominent. Here, we study the problem of the antiferromagnetic spin-21 quantum XXZ Heisenberg model on a kagome lattice by using a Jordan-Wigner transformation that maps the spins onto a problem of fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field. This mapping relies on being able to define a consistent Chern-Simons term on the lattice. Such a lattice Chern-Simons term had previously only been written for the square lattice and was used to successfully study the unfrustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice. At a mean-field level, these ideas have also been applied to frustrated systems by ignoring the details of the Chern-Simons term. However, fluctuations are generally strong in these models and are expected to affect the mean-field physics. Using a recently developed method to rigorously extend the Chern-Simons term to the frustrated kagome lattice, we can now formalize the Jordan-Wigner transformation on the kagome lattice. We then discuss the possible phases that can arise at the mean-field level from this mapping and focus specifically on the case of 31 filling (m=31 plateau) and analyze the effects of fluctuations in our theory. We show that in the regime of XY anisotropy, the ground state at the 31 plateau is equivalent to a bosonic fractional quantum Hall Laughlin state with filling fraction 21 and that at the 95 plateau it is equivalent to the first bosonic Jain daughter state at filling fraction 32.
Frustrated spin systems on Kagome lattices have long been considered to be a promising candidate for realizing exotic spin liquid phases. Recently, there has been a lot of renewed interest in these systems with the discovery of experimental materials such as Volborthite and Herbertsmithite that have Kagome like structures. In this thesis I will focus on studying frustrated spin systems on the Kagome lattice using a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic XXZ Heisenberg model in the presence of an external magnetic field as well as other perturbations. Such a system is expected to give rise to magnetization platueaus which can exhibit topological characteristics in certain regimes. We will first develop a flux-attachment transformation that maps the Heisenberg spins (hard-core bosons) onto a problem of fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field. This mapping relies on being able to define a consistent Chern-Simons term on the lattice. Using this newly developed mapping we analyse the phases/magnetization plateaus that arise at the mean-field level and also consider the effects of adding fluctuations to various mean-fi eld states. Along the way, we show how to discretize an abelian Chern-Simons gauge theory on generic 2D planar lattices that satisfy certain conditions. We find that as long as there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the vertices and plaquettes defined on the graph, one can write down a discretized lattice version of the abelian Chern-Simons gauge theory. Using the newly developed flux attachment transformation, we show the existence of chiral spin liquid states for various magnetization plateaus for certain range of parameters in the XXZ Heisenberg model in the presence of an external magnetic field. Speci cally, in the regime of XY anisotropy the ground states at the 1/3 and 2/3 plateau are equivalent to a bosonic fractional quantum Hall Laughlin state with filling fraction 1/2 and that the 5/9 plateau is equivalent to the first bosonic Jain daughter state at filling fraction 2/3. Next, we also consider the effects of several perturbations: a) a chirality term, b) a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya term, and c) a ring-exchange type term on the bowties of the kagome lattice, and inquire if they can also support chiral spin liquids as ground states. We find that the chirality term leads to a chiral spin liquid even in the absence of an uniform magnetic field, with an effective spin Hall conductance of 1/2 in the regime of XY anisotropy. The Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya term also leads a similar chiral spin liquid but only when this term is not too strong. An external magnetic field when combined with some of the above perturbations also has the possibility of giving rise to additional plateaus which also behave like chiral spin liquids in the XY regime. Under the in influence of a ring-exchange term we find that provided its coupling constant is large enough, it may trigger a phase transition into a chiral spin liquid by the spontaneous breaking of time-reversal invariance. Finally, we also present some numerical results based on some exact diagonalization studies. Here, we specifically focus on the 2/3-magnetization plateau which we previously argued should be a chiral spin liquid with a spin hall conductance of 1/2 . Such a topological state has a non-trivial ground state degeneracy and it excitations are described by semionic quasiparticles. In the numerical analysis, we analyse the ground state degeneracy structure on various Kagome clusters of different sizes. We compute modular matrices from the resultant minimally entangled states as well as the Chern numbers of various eigenstates all of which provide strong evidence that the 2/3-magnetization plateau very closely resembles a chiral spin liquid state with the expected characteristics.
Abstract The authors review recent density‐matrix renormalization group studies of lightly doped quantum spin liquids (QSLs) on the kagome lattice. While a number of distinct conducting phases, including high temperature superconductivity, have been theoretically anticipated, a tendency toward fractionalized insulating charge‐density‐wave (CDW) states is instead found. In agreement with earlier work [Jiang, Devereaux, and Kivelson, Phys. Rev. Lett . 2017, 119 , 067002], results for the t ‐ J model reveal that, starting from a fully gapped QSL, light doping leads to CDW long‐range order with a pattern that depends on lattice geometry and doping concentration such that there is one doped‐hole per CDW unit cell, while the spin–spin correlations remain short‐ranged. Alternatively, this state can be viewed as a stripe crystal or Wigner crystal of spinless holons, rather than of doped holes. From here, by studying generalized versions of the t ‐ J model, these results are extended to light doping of other types of QSLs, including critical and chiral QSLs. These results suggest that doping these QSLs also leads to insulating states with long‐range CDW order. While the superconducting correlations are short‐ranged, they can be significantly enhanced by second‐neighbor electron hopping. The relevance of these numerical results to Kagome materials is also discussed.
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.
It has long been believed that doped quantum spin liquids (QSLs) can give rise to fascinating quantum phases, including the possibility of high-temperature superconductivity (SC) as proposed by P. W. Anderson's resonating valence bond (RVB) scenario. The Kagome lattice t-J model is known to exhibit spin liquid behavior at half-filling, making it an ideal system for studying the properties of doped QSL. In this study, we employ the fermionic projected entangled simplex state (PESS) method to investigate the ground state properties of the Kagome lattice t-J model with t/J=3.0. Our results reveal a phase transition from charge density wave (CDW) states to uniform states around a critical doping level δc≈0.27. Within the CDW phase, we observe different types of Wigner crystal (WC) formulated by doped holes that are energetically favored. As we enter the uniform phase, a non-Fermi liquid (NFL) state emerges within the doping range 0.27<δ<0.32, characterized by an exponential decay of all correlation functions. With further hole doping, we discover the appearance of a pair density wave (PDW) state within a narrow doping region 0.32<δ<1/3. We also discuss the potential experimental implications of our findings.