An exact chiral amorphous spin liquid

G. Cassella, P. d’Ornellas (), T. Hodson, W. M. H. Natori and J. Knolle ()
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G. Cassella: Imperial College London
P. d’Ornellas: Imperial College London
T. Hodson: Imperial College London
W. M. H. Natori: Institut Laue-Langevin
J. Knolle: Imperial College London

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Topological insulator phases of non-interacting particles have been generalized from periodic crystals to amorphous lattices, which raises the question whether topologically ordered quantum many-body phases may similarly exist in amorphous systems? Here we construct a soluble chiral amorphous quantum spin liquid by extending the Kitaev honeycomb model to random lattices with fixed coordination number three. The model retains its exact solubility but the presence of plaquettes with an odd number of sides leads to a spontaneous breaking of time reversal symmetry. We unearth a rich phase diagram displaying Abelian as well as a non-Abelian quantum spin liquid phases with a remarkably simple ground state flux pattern. Furthermore, we show that the system undergoes a finite-temperature phase transition to a conducting thermal metal state and discuss possible experimental realisations.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42105-9

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