Quantum spin circulator in Y junctions of Heisenberg chains

We show that a quantum spin circulator, a nonreciprocal device that routes spin currents without any charge transport, can be achieved in Y junctions of identical spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains coupled by a chiral three-spin interaction. Using bosonization, boundary conformal field theory, and density m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2018-06, Vol.97 (22), Article 220402
Main Authors: Buccheri, Francesco, Egger, Reinhold, Pereira, Rodrigo G., Ramos, Flávia B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chains
Charge transport
Critical point
Field theory
Kondo effect
Liquid phases
Resistance
Y junctions
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Summary:We show that a quantum spin circulator, a nonreciprocal device that routes spin currents without any charge transport, can be achieved in Y junctions of identical spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains coupled by a chiral three-spin interaction. Using bosonization, boundary conformal field theory, and density matrix renormalization group simulations, we find that a chiral fixed point with maximally asymmetric spin conductance arises at a critical point separating a regime of disconnected chains from a spin-only version of the three-channel Kondo effect. We argue that networks of spin-chain Y junctions provide a controllable approach to construct long-sought chiral spin-liquid phases.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.97.220402