Floquet engineering of Kitaev quantum magnets

TL;DR

This paper proposes using Floquet engineering with circularly polarized lasers to tune interactions in Kitaev quantum magnets, aiming to stabilize the elusive Kitaev quantum spin liquid phase.

Contribution

It introduces a method to dynamically control magnetic interactions in Kitaev materials via laser parameters, facilitating the realization of quantum spin liquids.

Findings

Magnetic interactions can be tuned in situ by laser amplitude and frequency.

The approach provides a route to stabilize the Kitaev quantum spin liquid phase.

Floquet engineering offers a controllable way to manipulate quantum magnetic states.

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an intense search for materials realizing the Kitaev quantum spin liquid model. A number of edge-shared compounds with strong spin-orbit coupling, such as RuCl$_3$ and iridates, have been proposed to realize this model. Nevertheless, an effective spin Hamiltonian derived from the microscopic model relevant to these compounds generally contains terms that are antagonistic toward the quantum spin liquid. This is consistent with the fact the zero magnetic field ground state of these materials is generally magnetically ordered. It is a pressing issue to identify protocols to drive the system to the limit of the Kitaev quantum spin model. In this work, we propose Floquet engineering of these Kitaev quantum magnets by coupling materials to a circularly polarized laser. We demonstrate that all the magnetic interactions can be tuned in situ by the amplitude and frequency of the laser, hence providing a route to stabilize the Kitaev quantum spin liquid phase.