Majorana excitations in Kitaev spin liquids

Authors

Hosho Katsura ⋅ JP Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo

Abstract

In recent years, the Kitaev honeycomb model has been the focus of much attention, as it is a solvable example of a quantum spin liquid that hosts exotic Majorana excitations. A potential realization of the model through the Jackeli-Khaliullin mechanism was discussed in real materials with strong spin-orbit coupling. Examples include Na₂IrO₃ and α-RuCl₃. In this talk, I will first review some basic facts about the Kitaev honeycomb model and related materials. Then, I will present our recent results on the optical conductivity in the pure Kitaev honeycomb model. The results obtained suggest that the Majorana excitations are responsible for the low-energy absorption continuum observed in α-RuCl₃.

About the Speaker

Hosho Katsura, Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo

Hosho Katsura is an associate professor at the Department of Physics of The University of Tokyo. His research interests in condensed matter and statistical physics include quantum magnetism, multiferroics, quantum entanglement, topological phases, low-dimensional systems, and solvable/integrable models. He was previously a faculty member at Gakushuin University in Tokyo from 2010 to 2014. He has held postdoctoral positions at Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (UC Santa Barbara) and at Cross-Correlated Materials Research Group (RIKEN). He obtained his PhD degree in Applied Physics from The University of Tokyo in 2008.

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Issue

2018: Proceedings of the 36th Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Conference

Article ID

SPP-2018-INV-3A-02

Section

Invited Presentations

Published

2018-03-15

How to Cite

[1]

H Katsura, Majorana excitations in Kitaev spin liquids, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 36, SPP-2018-INV-3A-02 (2018). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2018-INV-3A-02.