Magnetic Flux Tuning of Spin Chirality in Mott Insulators with Ring Exchanges

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how magnetic flux can be used to control the spin chirality in Mott insulators with ring exchanges, revealing a versatile mechanism for manipulating quantum ground states in various lattice geometries.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to tune and switch spin chirality in Mott insulators via magnetic flux, applicable to both ladder and lattice systems.

Findings

Magnetic flux can continuously tune spin chirality.

Abrupt jumps and sign reversals of chirality are achievable.

The mechanism is demonstrated in both 1D ladders and 2D lattices.

Abstract

A manifestation of the many-body Aharonov-Bohm effect in the magnetic-flux-tuned Mott insulators with three-spin and four-spin ring exchanges, presents as an effective tool to manipulate the ground-state spin chirality, such as, tune the magnitude continuously, switch an abrupt jump, or even reverse its sign. Such a mechanism is demonstrated explicitly in both quasi-one-dimensional ladders and two-dimensional lattices with triangles as elementary plaquettes.