Electrical probes of the non-Abelian spin liquid phase in α-RuCl3

ORAL

Abstract

Recent thermal-transport experiments indicate that the Kitaev material α-RuCl3 realizes a non-Abelian spin liquid with Ising topological order over a range of magnetic fields. We propose a series of measurements for electrically detecting the hallmark chiral Majorana edge states and bulk anyons in the spin-liquid phase -- despite the fact that α-RuCl3 is a good Mott insulator. In particular, we introduce circuits that exploit interfaces between electronic systems and α-RuCl3 to convert physical fermions into emergent fermions, thus enabling analogues of transport probes of non-Abelian-anyon physics in topological superconductors. We further propose detection of individual bulk neutral fermions via a spin counterpart of charge sensing. Our results illuminate a partial pathway towards using Kitaev materials for topological quantum computation.

–

Presenters

  • David Aasen

    Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California, Santa Barbara, Caltech

Authors

  • David Aasen

    Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California, Santa Barbara, Caltech

  • Roger Mong

    Physics, University of Pittsburgh, Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh

  • Benjamin Matthew Hunt

    Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University

  • David George Mandrus

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Oak Ridge National Lab, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, University of Tennessee (Knoxville, USA), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Department of Material Science & Engineering, University of Tennessee, Material Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Materials Science and Technology, Materials Science and Technology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee

  • Jason Alicea

    Caltech, Physics, California Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology