Chiral Broken Symmetry Descendants of the Kagom\'e Lattice Chiral Spin Liquid

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationship between chiral spin liquids on the kagome lattice and nearby magnetic orders, revealing two non-coplanar magnetic states with uniform spin chirality that are closely related to the topologically ordered chiral spin liquid.

Contribution

It identifies two distinct magnetic orders with uniform spin chirality as competing states near the kagome chiral spin liquid, linking topological order to symmetry-broken states.

Findings

Two non-coplanar magnetic orders with uniform spin chirality identified

Close proximity of these orders to the kagome chiral spin liquid demonstrated

Highlights the connection between topological order and real-space symmetry breaking

Abstract

The breaking of chiral and time-reversal symmetries provides a pathway to exotic quantum phenomena and topological phases. In particular, the breaking of chiral (mirror) symmetry in quantum materials has been shown to have important technological applications. Recent work has extensively explored the resulting emergence of chiral charge orders and chiral spin liquids on the kagom\'e lattice. Such chiral spin liquids are closely tied to bosonic fractional quantum Hall states and host anyonic quasiparticles; however, their connection to nearby magnetically ordered states has remained a mystery. Here, we show that two distinct non-coplanar magnetic orders with uniform spin chirality, the XYZ umbrella state and the Octahedral spin crystal, emerge as competing orders in close proximity to the kagom\'e chiral spin liquid. Our results highlight the intimate link between a many-body topologically ordered liquid and broken symmetry states with nontrivial real-space topology.