Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering Response of the Kitaev Honeycomb Model

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Gábor B. Halász - , University of California at Santa Barbara (Autor:in)
  • Natalia B. Perkins - , University of Minnesota - College of Science and Engineering (Autor:in)
  • Jeroen Van Den Brink - , Leibniz-Institut für Festkörper- und Werkstoffforschung Dresden, Harvard University (Autor:in)

Abstract

We calculate the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) response of the Kitaev honeycomb model, an exactly solvable quantum-spin-liquid model with fractionalized Majorana and flux excitations. We find that the fundamental RIXS channels, the spin-conserving (SC) and the non-spin-conserving (NSC) ones, do not interfere and give completely different responses. SC RIXS picks up exclusively the Majorana sector with a pronounced momentum dispersion, whereas NSC RIXS also creates immobile fluxes, thereby rendering the response only weakly momentum dependent, as in the spin structure factor measured by inelastic neutron scattering. RIXS can, therefore, pick up the fractionalized excitations of the Kitaev spin liquid separately, making it a sensitive probe to detect spin-liquid character in potential material incarnations of the Kitaev honeycomb model.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer127203
FachzeitschriftPhysical review letters
Jahrgang117
Ausgabenummer12
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 16 Sept. 2016
Peer-Review-StatusJa
Extern publiziertJa

Schlagworte

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete