Time-Domain Anyon Interferometry in Kitaev Honeycomb Spin Liquids and Beyond

Motivated by recent experiments on the Kitaev honeycomb magnet alpha-RuCl3, we introduce time-domain probes of the edge and quasiparticle content of non-Abelian spin liquids. Our scheme exploits ancillary quantum spins that communicate via time-dependent tunneling of energy into and out of the spin liquid's chiral Majorana edge state. We show that the ancillary-spin dynamics reveals the edge-state velocity and, in suitable geometries, detects individual non-Abelian anyons and emergent fermions via a time-domain counterpart of quantum-Hall anyon interferometry. We anticipate applications to a wide variety of topological phases in solid-state and cold-atoms settings.

Automated summary

This research introduces a time-domain probing method for the edge and quasiparticle content of non-Abelian spin liquids, utilizing ancillary quantum spins to reveal edge-state velocity and detect individual non-Abelian anyons and emergent fermions in suitable geometries. Anticipated applications include various topological phases in solid-state and cold-atoms settings.