arXiv subjects

Zheng-Xin Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Zheng-Xin Liu.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Symmetry Protected Topological Phases in Spin Ladders with Two-body Interactions

Spin-1/2 two-legged ladders respecting inter-leg exchange symmetry and D2 spin rotation symmetry have new symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases which are different from the Haldane phase. Three of the new SPT phases are tx,ty,tz, which all have symmetry protected two-fold degenerate edge states on each end of the open boundaries. However, the edge states in different phases have different response to magnetic field. For example, the edge states in the tz phase will be split by the magnetic field along the z-direction, but not by the fields in the x- and y-directions. We give the Hamiltonian that realizes each SPT phase and demonstrate a proof-of-principle quantum simulation scheme for Hamiltonians of the t0 and tz phases based on coupled-QED-cavity ladder.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Gutzwiller Projected wavefunctions in the fermonic theory of S=1 spin chains

We study in this paper a series of Gutzwiller Projected wavefunctions for S=1 spin chains obtained from a fermionic mean-field theory for general S>1/2 spin systems [Phys. Rev. B 81, 224417] applied to the bilinear-biquadratic (J-K) model. The free-fermion mean field states before the projection are 1D paring states. By comparing the energies and correlation functions of the projected pairing states with those obtained from known results, we show that the optimized Gutzwiller projected wavefunctions are very good trial ground state wavefunctions for the antiferromagnetic bilinear-biquadratic model in the regime K 0). We find that different topological phases of the free-fermion paring states correspond to different spin phases: the weak pairing (topologically non-trivial) state gives rise to the Haldane phase, whereas the strong pairing (topologically trivial) state gives rise to the dimer phase. In particular the mapping between the Haldane phase and Gutwziller wavefunction is exact at the AKLT point K=1/3. The transition point between the two phases determined by the optimized Gutzwiller Projected wavefunction is in good agreement with the known result. The effect of Z2 gauge fluctuations above the mean field theory is analyzed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

2D symmetry protected topological orders and their protected gapless edge excitations

Topological insulators in free fermion systems have been well characterized and classified. However, it is not clear in strongly interacting boson or fermion systems what symmetry protected topological orders exist. In this paper, we present a model in a 2D interacting spin system with nontrivial on-site $Z_2$ symmetry protected topological order. The order is nontrivial because we can prove that the 1D system on the boundary must be gapless if the symmetry is not broken, which generalizes the gaplessness of Wess-Zumino-Witten model for Lie symmetry groups to any discrete symmetry groups. The construction of this model is related to a nontrivial 3-cocycle of the $Z_2$ group and can be generalized to any symmetry group. It potentially leads to a complete classification of symmetry protected topological orders in interacting boson and fermion systems of any dimension. Specifically, this exactly solvable model has a unique gapped ground state on any closed manifold and gapless excitations on the boundary if $Z_2$ symmetry is not broken. We prove the latter by developing the tool of matrix product unitary operator to study the nonlocal symmetry transformation on the boundary and revealing the nontrivial 3-cocycle structure of this transformation. Similar ideas are used to construct a 2D fermionic model with on-site $Z_2$ symmetry protected topological order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Symmetry protected topological orders of 1D spin systems with D2+T symmetry

In [Z.-X. Liu, M. Liu, X.-G. Wen, arXiv:1101.5680], we studied 8 gapped symmetric quantum phases in S=1 spin chains %/ladders which respect a discrete spin rotation $D_2 \subset SO(3)$ and time reversal $T$ symmetries. In this paper, using a generalized approach, we study all the 16 possible gapped symmetric quantum phases of 1D integer spin systems with only $D_2+T$ symmetry. Those phases are beyond Landau symmetry breaking theory and cannot be characterized by local order parameters, since they do not break any symmetry. They correspond to 16 symmetry protected topological (SPT) orders. We show that all the 16 SPT orders can be fully characterized by the physical properties of the symmetry protected degenerate boundary states (end `spins') at the ends of a chain segment. So we can measure and distinguish all the 16 SPT orders experimentally. We also show that all these SPT orders can be realized in S=1 spin ladder models. The gapped symmetric phases protected by subgroups of $D_2+T$ are also studied. Again, all these phases can be distinguished by physically measuring their end `spins'.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

New gapped quantum phases for S=1 spin chain with D2h symmetry

We study different quantum phases in integer spin systems with on-site D2h=D2xZ2 and translation symmetry. We find four distinct non-trivial phases in S=1 spin chains despite they all have the same symmetry. All the four phases have gapped bulk excitations, doubly-degenerate end states and the doubly-degenerate entanglement spectrum. These non-trivial phases are examples of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases introduced by Gu and Wen. One of the SPT phase correspond to the Haldane phase and the other three are new. These four SPT phases can be distinguished experimentally by their different response of the end states to weak external magnetic fields. According to Chen-Gu-Wen classification, the D2h symmetric spin chain can have totally 64 SPT phases that do not break any symmetry. Here we constructed seven nontrivial phases from the seven classes of nontrivial projective representations of D2h group. Four of these are found in S=1 spin chains and studied in this paper, and the other three may be realized in S=1 spin ladders or S=2 models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Fermionic theory for quantum antiferromagnets with spin S > 1/2

The fermion representation for S = 1/2 spins is generalized to spins with arbitrary magnitudes. The symmetry properties of the representation is analyzed where we find that the particle-hole symmetry in the spinon Hilbert space of S =1/2 fermion representation is absent for S > 1/2. As a result, different path integral representations and mean field theories can be formulated for spin models. In particular, we construct a Lagrangian with restored particle-hole symmetry, and apply the corresponding mean field theory to one dimensional (1D) S = 1 and S = 3/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models, with results that agree with Haldane's conjecture. For a S = 1 open chain, we show that Majorana fermion edge states exist in our mean field theory. The generalization to spins with arbitrary magnitude S is discussed. Our approach can be applied to higher dimensional spin systems. As an example, we study the geometrically frustrated S = 1 AFM on triangular lattice. Two spin liquids with different pairing symmetries are discussed: the gapped px + ipy-wave spin liquid and the gapless f-wave spin liquid. We compare our mean field result with the experiment on NiGa2S4, which remains disordered at low temperature and was proposed to be in a spin liquid state. Our fermionic mean field theory provide a framework to study S > 1/2 spin liquids with fermionic spinon excitations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Possibility of S=1 spin liquids with fermionic spinons on triangular lattices

In this paper we generalize the fermionic representation for $S=1/2$ spins to arbitrary spins. Within a mean field theory we obtain several spin liquid states for spin $S=1$ antiferromagnets on triangular lattices, including gapless f-wave spin liquid and topologically nontrivial $p_x+ip_y$ spin liquid. After considering different competing orders, we construct a phase diagram for the $J_1$-$J_3$-$K$ model. The application to recently discovered material $\mathrm{NiGa_2S_4}$ is discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Raman signature of the U(1) Dirac spin-liquid state in spin-1/2 kagome system

We followed the Shastry--Shraiman formulation of Raman scattering in Hubbard systems and considered the Raman intensity profile in the spin-1/2 "perfect" kagome lattice herbertsmithite ZnCu_3(OH)_6Cl_2, assuming the ground state is well-described by the U(1) Dirac spin-liquid state. In the derivation of the Raman T-matrix, we found that the spin chirality term appears in the A_{2g} channel in the kagome lattice at the t^4/(ω_i-U)^3 order, but (contrary to the claims by Shastry and Shraiman) vanishes in the square lattice to that order. In the ensuing calculations on the spin-1/2 kagome lattice, we found that the Raman intensity profile in the E_g channel is invariant under an arbitrary rotation in the kagome plane, and that in all (A_{1g}, E_g, and A_{2g}) symmetry channels the Raman intensity profile contains broad continua that display power-law behaviors at low energy, with exponent approximately equal to 1 in the A_{2g} channel and exponent approximately equal to 3 in the E_g and the A_{1g} channels. For the A_{2g} channel, the Raman profile also contains a characteristic 1/ωsingularity, which arose in our model from an excitation of the emergent U(1) gauge field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Topologically distinct classes of valence bond solid states with their parent Hamiltonians

We introduce a general method to construct one-dimensional translationally invariant valence bond solid states with a built-in Lie group $G$ and derive their matrix product representations. The general strategies to find their parent Hamiltonians are provided so that the valence bond solid states are their unique ground states. For quantum integer spin-$S$ chains, we discuss two topologically distinct classes of valence bond solid states: One consists of two virtual SU(2) spin-$J$ variables in each site and another is formed by using two $SO(2S+1)$ spinors. Among them, a new spin-1 fermionic valence bond solid state, its parent Hamiltonian, and its properties are discussed in detail. Moreover, two types of valence bond solid states with SO(5) symmetry are further generalized and their respective properties are analyzed as well.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Tightly Localized Stationary Pulses in Multi-Level Atomic System

We show the pulse matching phenomenon can be obtained in the general multi-level system with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). For this we find a novel way to create tightly localized stationary pulses by using counter-propagating pump fields. The present process is a spatial compression of excitation so that it allows us to shape and further intensify the localized stationary pulses, without using standing waves of pump fields or spatially modulated pump fields.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Topological structures of adiabatic phase for multi-level quantum systems

The topological properties of adiabatic gauge fields for multi-level (three-level in particular) quantum systems are studied in detail. Similar to the result that the adiabatic gauge field for SU(2) systems (e.g. two-level quantum system or angular momentum systems, etc) have a monopole structure, the curvature two-forms of the adiabatic holonomies for SU(3) three-level and SU(3) eight-level quantum systems are shown to have monopole-like (for all levels) or instanton-like (for the degenerate levels) structures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Classical and quantum depinning of a domain wall with a spin-polarized current

We study in detail the classical and quantum depinning of a domain wall (DW) induced by a fast-varying spin-polarized current. By confirming the adiabatic condition for calculating the spin-torque in fast-varying current case, we show that the time-dependent spin current has two critical values that determine the classical depinning of DW. This discovery successfully explains the recent experiments. Furthermore, a feasible way is proposed to lower the threshold of spin currents and control the direction of DW's motion. Finally, the quantum properties for the depinning of DW are also investigated in this paper.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Possibility of Inhomogeneous Coupling Leading to Decoherence in an Electromagnetically-Induced-Transparency Quantum-Memory Process

The effect of inhomogeneous coupling between three-level atoms and external light fields is studied in the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) quantum memory techqnique. By introducing a subensemble-atomic system to deal with present inhomogeneous coupling case, we find there is a non-symmetric dark-state subspace (DSS) that allows the EIT quantum memory technique to function perfectly. This shows that such memory scheme can work ideally even if the atomic state is very far from being a symmetric one.

quant-ph↗