No Arabic abstract
Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are fluid-like states of quantum spins where its long-range ordered state is destroyed by quantum fluctuations. The ground state of QSL and its exotic phenomena, which have been extensively discussed for decades, have yet to be identified. We employ thermal transport measurements on newly discovered QSL candidates, $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3 and EtMe3Sb[Pd(dmit)2]2, and report that the two organic insulators possess different QSLs characterized by different elementary excitations. In $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3, heat transport is thermally activated at low temperatures, suggesting presence of a spin gap in this QSL. In stark contrast, in EtMe3Sb[Pd(dmit)2]2, a sizable linear temperature dependence of thermal conductivity is clearly resolved in the zero-temperature limit, showing gapless excitation with a long mean free path (~1,000 lattice distances). Such a long mean free path demonstrates a novel feature of QSL as a quantum-condensed state with long-distance coherence.
This chapter is intended as a brief overview of some of the quantum spin liquid phases with unbroken SU(2) spin symmetry available in one dimension. The main characteristics of these phases are discussed by means of the bosonization approach. A special emphasis is laid on the interplay between frustration and quantum fluctuations in one dimension.
Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are intriguing phases of matter possessing fractionalized excitations. Several quasi-two dimensional materials have been proposed as candidate QSLs, but direct evidence for fractionalization in these systems is still lacking. In this paper, we show that the inter-plane thermal conductivity in layered QSLs carries a unique signature of fractionalization. We examine several types of gapless QSL phases - a $Z_2$ QSL with either a Dirac spectrum or a spinon Fermi surface, and a $U(1)$ QSL with a Fermi surface. In all cases, the in-plane and $c-$axis thermal conductivities have a different power law dependence on temperature, due to the different mechanisms of transport in the two directions: in the planes, the thermal current is carried by fractionalized excitations, whereas the inter-plane current is carried by integer (non-fractional) excitations. In layered $Z_2$ and $U(1)$ QSLs with a Fermi surface, the $c-$axis thermal conductivity is parametrically smaller than the in-plane one, but parametrically larger than the phonon contribution at low temperatures.
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 a zigzag structure in terms of the time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory. After the magnetic field pulse is introduced to one of the edges, the spin moments are excited in the opposite edge region although no spin moments are 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 Majorana fermions flow through the bulk regime without the spin excitation, resulting in the spin transport in the Kitaev system. We also demonstrate that this phenomenon can be observed even in the system with the Heisenberg interactions using the exact diagonalization.
A set of localized, non-Abelian anyons - such as vortices in a p_x + i p_y superconductor or quasiholes in certain quantum Hall states - gives rise to a macroscopic degeneracy. Such a degeneracy is split in the presence of interactions between the anyons. Here we show that in two spatial dimensions this splitting selects a unique collective state as ground state of the interacting many-body system. This collective state can be a novel gapped quantum liquid nucleated inside the original parent liquid (of which the anyons are excitations). This physics is of relevance for any quantum Hall plateau realizing a non-Abelian quantum Hall state when moving off the center of the plateau.
Spin liquids are quantum phases of matter that exhibit a variety of novel features associated with their topological character. These include various forms of fractionalization - elementary excitations that behave as fractions of an electron. While there is not yet entirely convincing experimental evidence that any particular material has a spin liquid ground state, in the past few years, increasing evidence has accumulated for a number of materials suggesting that they have characteristics strongly reminiscent of those expected for a quantum spin liquid.