Nonreciprocal heat transport in the Kitaev chiral spin liquid

TL;DR

This paper explores how nonreciprocal heat transport occurs in the Kitaev chiral spin liquid, showing that external magnetic fields and boundary effects can control heat flow directionally, with implications for heat transfer technology.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction induces asymmetric Majorana band structures, leading to controllable nonreciprocal heat currents in the Kitaev chiral spin liquid.

Findings

DMI causes asymmetric Majorana hopping.

Nonreciprocal heat currents depend on magnetic field direction.

External fields can manipulate heat current magnitude and direction.

Abstract

Nonreciprocal transport, characterized by its direction-selective nature, holds significant potential for applications in various devices. In this study, we investigate nonreciprocal heat transport in Majorana systems, specifically focusing on the Kitaev chiral spin liquid under external magnetic fields. Our theoretical examination focuses on effects of open boundaries in which the Majorana edge modes exist, and the inversion symmetry is broken, which leads to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Through perturbation theory, we demonstrate that DMI induces asymmetric hopping, resulting in the asymmetry of the Majorana band. The results of nonreciprocal heat currents are presented for various directions of external magnetic fields, and we discuss the relation between the current and the field-directions. The potential exists to manipulate both of the directions and magnitude of the nonreciprocal current by varying external magnetic fields and apply to heat transfer devices.