📖Program Curriculum
Project details
The idea that strongly interacting spins in a solid can evade ordering down to zero temperature by forming a quantum spin liquid (QSL) has a long history [1]. QSLs exhibit topological order and a range of remarkable quantum phenomena, including long-range entanglement, topological degeneracy, emergent Majorana fermions and gauge fields [2,3]. The control and manipulation of such properties in condensed matter systems holds promise for future quantum technologies [4].
The goal of the project is to address the central challenge currently in the field: How one can detect QSL signatures in real materials? The student will combine numerical and analytical techniques to extract dynamical response functions that are measured directly in experiments, such as inelastic neutron scattering, Raman scattering and electron spin resonance [5]. The ensuing predictions will be compared to ongoing experiments on available candidate materials (such as a-Li2irO3, NaLi2O3 and a-RuCl3), and will lay the ground for quantitative diagnostics and the broader phenomenology of QSLs.
The PhD student will endeavour into one of the most vibrant fields of condensed matter, acquire expertise in numerical and analytical methods, work on experimentally driven problems, and collaborate with theorists and experimentalists from around the world. The project is ideal for students with an interest in quantum magnetism, topological phases of matter and numerical algorithms. A background in solid state physics is desirable. Previous experience with computational algorithms will be advantageous.
[1] P. W. Anderson, Mat. Res. Bull. 8, 153-160 (1973).
[2] X. G. Wen, Quantum Field Theory of Many-Body Systems. Oxford Univeristy Press (2010).
[3] I. Rousochatzakis, Y. Sizyuk and N. B. Perkins, Nat. Commun. 9, 1575 (2018).
[4] C. Nayak, et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 1083 (2008).
[5] I. Rousochatzakis, S. Kourtis, J. Knolle, R. Moessner, N. B. Perkins, Phys. Rev. B 100, 045117 (2019).
