Spintronics meets quantum spin liquids: A novel spectral probe of quantum magnets based on spin Hall phenomena

So Takei

We propose an experimental method utilizing a strongly spin-orbit coupled metal to quantum magnet bilayer that will probe quantum magnets lacking long-range magnetic order via examination of the voltage noise spectrum in the metal layer. The bilayer is held in thermal equilibrium, and spin fluctuations arising across the single interface are converted into voltage fluctuations in the metal as a result of the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). We elucidate the theoretical workings of the proposed bilayer system and provide precise predictions for the frequency characteristics of the enhancement to the AC electrical resistance measured in the metal layer for three candidate quantum spin liquid models: the quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagomé lattice, fermionic spinons coupled to a U(1) gauge field, and the Kitaev model in the gapless spin liquid phase. The ISHE-facilitated spin noise probe is then applied to quantum spin systems hosting elementary bosonic excitations with topologically nontrivial band structures. We show how the method can be used to detect topological phase transitions in these systems by directly probing the topologically-protected fractional spin excitations localized at their edges.