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3D Kitaev Spin Liquids
Maria Hermanns, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
01.12.2017 at 09:00
The Kitaev honeycomb model is arguably one of the most influential examples of a topologically ordered phase of matter. At the heart of this model is the Kitaev interaction, which is of Ising type, but where the exchange easy-axis depends on the bond direction. It is one of the few highly frustrated spin models that is exactly solvable and, thus, has shaped our understanding of quantum spin liquid phases in general. In recent years, it has been shown that Kitaev interactions occur naturally in certain transition metal compounds, which are commonly referred to as Kitaev materials. An important hallmark of these systems is the surprising variety of quantum spin liquids that can be realized — in particular in three spatial dimensions.
The richness of the theoretical model combined with recent breakthroughs in material synthesis have lead to a rapidly growing field which is marked by the strong interplay of theory and experiment. In this talk, we’ll give an overview of the physics of three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids, identify hallmarks of topological order and discuss how these may be relevant for real materials.
A 450, Theresienstr. 37