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arXiv · 2104.12887

Spin Transport in Quantum Spin-Orbital Liquids

Zekun Zhuang·J. B. Marston
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Abstract

Quantum spin-orbital liquids (QSOLs) are a novel phase of matter, similar to quantum spin liquids, with quantum fluctuations in both spin and orbital degrees of freedom. We use non-equilibrium Green's function theory to study out-of-equilibrium spin transport in an exactly solvable QSOL model put forward by Yao and Lee. We find that the spin transport problem can be mapped to that of a free fermion problem with effective fermionic baths that have rapidly varying density of states. In the gapless phase, the spin current $I_s-V_s$ relation is thus highly nonlinear, while in the chiral gapped phase, the spin current conductance is quantized to be $1/2π$ provided that the contacts are sufficiently wide. The quantized conductance is a signature of the topological nature of the chiral gapped QSOL.

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Zekun Zhuang, J. B. Marston. 2021-08-05. Spin Transport in Quantum Spin-Orbital Liquids. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.104.l060403

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