Low dimensional quantum spin liquid systems

Abstract

We develop a mean-field theory of the 1D spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, using a two-orbital fermionic representation for the spin-1 operators. Two ansatz with different orbital pairing symmetries are discussed and the projected mean-field ground states with their corresponding parent Hamiltonians have also been obtained. Then we study the U(1) spin liquid state with large spinon Fermi surfaces. The physical conductivity obtained through Ioffe-Larkin composition rule can support surface plasmon modes propagating along the interface between the spin liquid and a linear medium, which can be excited using a Kretschmann-Raether configuration. Next we generalize the linear current response to including nonlinear effects under the perturbation of a time dependent but spatially uniform electric field in the framework of an effective U(1) gauge theory derived through a Fermi-liquid-like approach. The nonlinear susceptibility can support waves with triple frequency inside the spin liquids through the process of third harmonic generation. As a byproduct during the Fermi-liquid approach, we generalize the standard Landau Fermi liquid theory to describe the intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity, based on some general symmetric considerations. Fitting result of the anomalous Hall conductivity is well consistent with the experimental data, and behaves better in lower frequency range than the simple two-band model.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology