skip to main content

Attention:

The NSF Public Access Repository (PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET on Friday, December 13 until 2:00 AM ET on Saturday, December 14 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Title: Vison crystals, chiral, and crystalline phases in the Yao-Lee model
We study the phase diagram of the Yao-Lee model with Kitaev-type spin-orbital interactions in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and external magnetic fields. Unlike the Kitaev model, the Yao-Lee model can still be solved exactly under these perturbations due to the enlarged local Hilbert space. Through a variational analysis, we obtain a rich ground-state phase diagram that consists of a variety of vison crystals with periodic arrangements of background Z2 flux (i.e., visons). With an out-of-plane magnetic field, these phases have gapped bulk and chiral edge states, characterized by a Chern number ν and an associated chiral central charge c=ν/2 of edge states. We also find helical Majorana edge states that are protected by magnetic mirror symmetry. For the bilayer systems, we find that interlayer coupling can also stabilize new topological phases. Our results spotlight the tunability and the accompanying rich physics in exactly solvable spin-orbital generalizations of the Kitaev model.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2234352 2011876
PAR ID:
10488438
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
American Physical Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Volume:
108
Issue:
22
ISSN:
2469-9950
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    We determine the phase diagram of a bilayer, Yao-Lee spin-orbital model with inter-layer interactions (J), for several stackings and moiré superlattices. For AA stacking, a gapped$${{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}$$Z2quantum spin liquid phase emerges at a finiteJc. We show that this phase survives in the well-controlled large-Jlimit, where an isotropic honeycomb toric code emerges. For moiré superlattices, a finite-qinter-layer hybridization is stabilized. This connects inequivalent Dirac points, effectively ‘untwisting’ the system. Our study thus provides insight into the spin-liquid phases of bilayer spin-orbital Kitaev materials.

     
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    The evolution of quantum spin liquid states (QSL) of the anisotropic antiferromagnetic (AFM) Kitaev model with the [001] magnetic field by utilizing the finite‐temperature Lanczos method (FTLM) is investigated. In this anisotropic Kitaev model with and (K is the energy unit), due to the competition between anisotropy and magnetic field, the system emerges four exotic quantum phase transitions (QPTs) when and , while only two QPTs when . At these magnetic‐field tuning quantum phase transition points, the low‐energy excitation spectrums appear level crossover, and the specific heat, magnetic susceptibility and Wilson ratio display anomalies; accordingly, the topological Chern number may also change. These results demonstrate that the anisotropic interacting Kitaev model with modulating magnetic field displays more rich phase diagrams, in comparison with the isotropic Kitaev model.

     
    more » « less
  3. This paper comprises a review of our recent works on fractional chiral modes that emerge due to edge reconstruction in integer and fractional quantum Hall (QH) phases. The new part added is an analysis of edge reconstruction of the ν = 2/5 phase. QH states are topological phases of matter featuring chiral gapless modes at the edge. These edge modes may propagate downstream or upstream and may support either charge or charge-neutral excitations. From topological considerations, particle-like QH states are expected to support only downstream charge modes. However the interplay between the electronic repulsion and the boundary confining potential may drive certain quantum phase transitions (called reconstructions) at the edge, which are associated to the nucleation of additional pairs of counter-propagating modes. Employing variational methods, here we study edge reconstruction in the prototypical particle-like phases at ν = 1, 1/3, and 2/5 as a function of the slope of the confining potential. Our analysis shows that subsequent renormalization of the edge modes, driven by disorder-induced tunnelling and intermode interactions, may lead to the emergence of upstream neutral modes. These predictions may be tested in suitably designed transport experiments. Our results are also consistent with previous observations of upstream neutral modes in these QH phases and could explain the absence of anyonic interference in electronic Mach-Zehnder setups.

     
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Spin-orbit coupled honeycomb magnets with the Kitaev interaction have received a lot of attention due to their potential of hosting exotic quantum states including quantum spin liquids. Thus far, the most studied Kitaev systems are 4 d /5 d -based honeycomb magnets. Recent theoretical studies predicted that 3 d -based honeycomb magnets, including Na 2 Co 2 TeO 6 (NCTO), could also be a potential Kitaev system. Here, we have used a combination of heat capacity, magnetization, electron spin resonance measurements alongside inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to study NCTO’s quantum magnetism, and we have found a field-induced spin disordered state in an applied magnetic field range of 7.5 T <  B (⊥ b -axis) < 10.5 T. The INS spectra were also simulated to tentatively extract the exchange interactions. As a 3 d -magnet with a field-induced disordered state on an effective spin-1/2 honeycomb lattice, NCTO expands the Kitaev model to 3 d compounds, promoting further interests on the spin-orbital effect in quantum magnets. 
    more » « less
  5. Topological mosaic pattern (TMP) can be formed in two-dimensional (2D) moiré superlattices, a set of periodic and spatially separated domains with distinct topologies that give rise to periodic edge states on the domain walls. In this study, we demonstrate that these periodic edge states play a crucial role in determining global topological properties. By developing a continuum model for periodic edge states with 𝐶6⁢𝑧 and 𝐶3⁢𝑧 rotational symmetry, we predict that a global topological phase transition at the charge neutrality point (CNP) can be driven by the size of domain walls and moiré period. The Wannier representation analysis reveals that these periodic edge states are fundamentally chiral 𝑝𝑥±𝑖⁢𝑝𝑦 orbitals. The interplay between on-site chiral orbital rotation and neighboring hopping among chiral orbitals leads to band inversion and a topological phase transition. Our work establishes a general model for tuning local and global topological phases, paving the way for future research on strongly correlated topological flat minibands within topological mosaic patterns. 
    more » « less