Contributor info: Dr Didier Poilblanc

Matthieu Mambrini, Didier Poilblanc

SciPost Phys. 17, 011 (2024) · published 11 July 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

In condensed matter, Chiral Spin Liquids (CSL) are quantum spin analogs of electronic Fractional Quantum Hall states (in the continuum) or Fractional Chern Insulators (on the lattice). As the latter, CSL are remarkable states of matter, exhibiting topological order and chiral edge modes. Preparing CSL on quantum simulators like cold atom platforms is still an open challenge. Here we propose a simple setup on a finite cluster of spin-1/2 located at the sites of a square lattice. Using a Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) non-chiral spin liquid as initial state on which fast time-modulations of strong nearest-neighbor Heisenberg couplings are applied, following different protocols (out-of-equilibrium quench or semi-adiabatic ramping of the drive), we show the slow emergence of such a CSL phase. An effective Floquet dynamics, obtained from a high-frequency Magnus expansion of the drive Hamiltonian, provides a very accurate and simple framework fully capturing the out-of-equilibrium dynamics. An analysis of the resulting prepared states in term of Projected Entangled Pair states gives further insights on the topological nature of the chiral phase. Finally, we discuss possible applications to quantum computing.

Ravi Teja Ponnaganti, Matthieu Mambrini, Didier Poilblanc

SciPost Phys. 15, 158 (2023) · published 12 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Within the Projected Entangled Pair State (PEPS) tensor network formalism, a simple update (SU) method has been used to investigate the time evolution of a two-dimensional U(1) critical spin-1/2 spin liquid under Hamiltonian quench [Phys. Rev. B 106, 195132 (2022)]. Here we introduce two different variational frameworks to describe the time dynamics of SU(2)-symmetric translationally-invariant PEPS, aiming to improve the accuracy. In one approach, after using a Trotter-Suzuki decomposition of the time evolution operator in term of two-site elementary gates, one considers a single bond embedded in an environment approximated by a Corner Transfer Matrix Renormalization Group (CTMRG). A variational update of the two tensors on the bond is performed under the application of the elementary gate and then, after symmetrization of the site tensors, the environment is updated. In the second approach, a cluster optimization is performed on a finite (periodic) cluster, maximizing the overlap of the exact time-evolved state with a symmetric finite-size PEPS ansatz. Observables are then computed on the infinite lattice contracting the infinite-PEPS (iPEPS) by CTMRG. We show that the variational schemes outperform the SU method and remain accurate over a significant time interval before hitting the entanglement barrier. Studying the spectrum of the transfer matrix, we find that the asymptotic correlations are very well preserved under time evolution, including the critical nature of the singlet correlations, as expected from the Lieb-Robinson (LR) bound theorem. Consistently, the system (asymptotic) boundary is found to be described by the same Conformal Field Theory of central charge $c = 1$ during time evolution. We also compute the time-evolution of the short distance spin-spin correlations and estimate the LR velocity.

Francesco Ferrari, Sen Niu, Juraj Hasik, Yasir Iqbal, Didier Poilblanc, Federico Becca

SciPost Phys. 14, 139 (2023) · published 1 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Motivated by recent experiments on Cs$_2$Cu$_3$SnF$_{12}$ and YCu$_{3}$(OH)$_{6}$Cl$_{3}$, we consider the ${S=1/2}$ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice with nearest-neighbor super-exchange $J$ and (out-of-plane) Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction $J_D$, which favors (in-plane) ${{\bf Q}=(0,0)}$ magnetic order. By using both variational Monte Carlo and tensor-network approaches, we show that the ground state develops a finite magnetization for $J_D/J \gtrsim 0.03 \mathrm{-} 0.04$; instead, for smaller values of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, the ground state has no magnetic order and, according to the fermionic wave function, develops a gap in the spinon spectrum, which vanishes for $J_D \to 0$. The small value of $J_D/J$ for the onset of magnetic order is particularly relevant for the interpretation of low-temperature behaviors of kagome antiferromagnets, including ZnCu$_{3}$(OH)$_{6}$Cl$_{2}$. For this reason, we assess the spin dynamical structure factor and the corresponding low-energy spectrum, by using the variational Monte Carlo technique. The existence of a continuum of excitations above the magnon modes is observed within the magnetically ordered phase, with a broad peak above the lowest-energy magnons, similarly to what has been detected by inelastic neutron scattering on Cs$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$SnF$_{12}$.

Didier Poilblanc, Matthieu Mambrini, Fabien Alet

SciPost Phys. 10, 019 (2021) · published 28 January 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Within the tensor network framework, the (positive) thermal density operator can be approximated by a double layer of infinite Projected Entangled Pair Operator (iPEPO) coupled via ancilla degrees of freedom. To investigate the thermal properties of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice, we introduce a family of fully spin-$SU(2)$ and lattice-$C_{4v}$ symmetric on-site tensors (of bond dimensions $D=4$ or $D=7$) and a plaquette-based Trotter-Suzuki decomposition of the imaginary-time evolution operator. A variational optimization is performed on the plaquettes, using a full (for $D=4$) or simple (for $D=7$) environment obtained from the single-site Corner Transfer Matrix Renormalization Group fixed point. The method is benchmarked by a comparison to quantum Monte Carlo in the thermodynamic limit. Although the iPEPO spin correlation length starts to deviate from the exact exponential growth for inverse-temperature $\beta \gtrsim 2$, the behavior of various observables turns out to be quite accurate once plotted w.r.t the inverse correlation length. We also find that a direct $T=0$ variational energy optimization provides results in full agreement with the $\beta\rightarrow\infty$ limit of finite-temperature data, hence validating the imaginary-time evolution procedure. Extension of the method to frustrated models is described and preliminary results are shown.

Juraj Hasik, Didier Poilblanc, Federico Becca

SciPost Phys. 10, 012 (2021) · published 20 January 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The recent progress in the optimization of two-dimensional tensor networks [H.-J. Liao, J.-G. Liu, L. Wang, and T. Xiang, Phys. Rev. X 9, 031041 (2019)] based on automatic differentiation opened the way towards precise and fast optimization of such states and, in particular, infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS) that constitute a generic-purpose Ansatz for lattice problems governed by local Hamiltonians. In this work, we perform an extensive study of a paradigmatic model of frustrated magnetism, the J 1 − J 2 Heisenberg an- tiferromagnet on the square lattice. By using advances in both optimization and subsequent data analysis, through finite correlation-length scaling, we re- port accurate estimations of the magnetization curve in the Néel phase for J 2 /J 1 ≤ 0.45. The unrestricted iPEPS simulations reveal an U (1) symmetric structure, which we identify and impose on tensors, resulting in a clean and consistent picture of antiferromagnetic order vanishing at the phase transition with a quantum paramagnet at J 2 /J 1 ≈ 0.46(1). The present methodology can be extended beyond this model to study generic order-to-disorder transitions in magnetic systems.

Saeed S. Jahromi, Román Orús, Didier Poilblanc, Frédéric Mila

SciPost Phys. 9, 092 (2020) · published 29 December 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We study the zero-temperature phase diagram of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg model with breathing anisotropy (i.e., with different coupling strength on the upward and downward triangles) on the kagome lattice. Our study relies on large scale tensor network simulations based on infinite projected entangled-pair state and infinite projected entangled-simplex state methods adapted to the kagome lattice. Our energy analysis suggests that the U(1) algebraic quantum spin-liquid (QSL) ground-state of the isotropic Heisenberg model is stable up to very large breathing anisotropy until it breaks down to a critical lattice-nematic phase that breaks rotational symmetry in real space through a first-order quantum phase transition. Our results also provide further insight into the recent experiment on vanadium oxyfluoride compounds which has been shown to be relevant platforms for realizing QSL in the presence of breathing anisotropy.

Didier Poilblanc, Matthieu Mambrini, Sylvain Capponi

SciPost Phys. 7, 041 (2019) · published 2 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We consider a family of SU(2)-symmetric Projected Entangled Paired States (PEPS) on the square lattice, defining colored-Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) states, to describe the quantum disordered phase of the $J_1-J_2$ frustrated Heisenberg model.For $J_2/J_1\sim 0.55$ we show the emergence of critical (algebraic) dimer-dimer correlations -- typical of Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK) points of quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices -- while, simultaneously, the spin-spin correlation length remains short. Our findings are consistent with a spin liquid or a weak Valence Bond Crystal in the neighborhood of an RK point.