Researchers Matthieu Mambrini, Nathan Goldman, and Didier Poilblanc from the Université libre de Bruxelles and the Université de Toulouse have published a study in the journal Physical Review B, exploring the behavior of a quantum spin-1/2 system under periodic driving. Their work focuses on the stability and transitions of an exotic phase of matter known as the chiral spin liquid (CSL) in the context of Floquet systems, which are quantum systems subjected to periodic driving.
The researchers investigated a family of Floquet quantum spin-1/2 models on a square lattice to understand how the anomalous chiral spin liquid (CSL) behaves under changes in the driving frequency, a process they refer to as “detuning.” They found that as they increased the detuning, the system exhibited three distinct regimes. At small detuning, the system remained in a finite-size regime with no folding of the Floquet spectrum. In an intermediate regime, they observed folding of the spectrum with very few resonances. Finally, at higher detuning, the density of resonances increased, suggesting that the system was heating up.
The researchers used various analytical tools, including the average-energy spectrum on finite-size torus and cylinders, to unfold the Floquet quasi-energy spectrum over the entire frequency range and obtain the geometrical Berry phases. These tools allowed them to identify the different regimes and study the stability of the anomalous CSL. They found that edge modes, which are characteristic of the CSL phase, were revealed by spectroscopic tools and from the diamagnetic response of the system, giving access to the anomalous winding number.
The analysis of all the data suggests that the anomalous CSL is not continuously connected to the high-frequency CSL. The researchers also discussed the possibility of a long-lived prethermal anomalous CSL, which could have implications for the practical applications of this exotic phase of matter.
While the direct practical applications of this research to the energy industry are not immediately clear, the study of exotic phases of matter and their behavior under different conditions can provide valuable insights into the fundamental properties of quantum systems. These insights could potentially lead to the development of new materials and technologies with applications in various fields, including energy storage and conversion. The research was published in Physical Review B, a peer-reviewed journal covering fundamental and applied research in the areas of condensed matter and materials physics.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.