422 research outputs found
Light-Induced Control of Magnetic Phases in Kitaev Quantum Magnets
Leveraging coherent light-matter interaction in solids is a promising new
direction towards control and functionalization of quantum materials, to
potentially realize regimes inaccessible in equilibrium and stabilize new or
useful states of matter. We show how driving the strongly spin-orbit coupled
proximal Kitaev magnet -RuCl with circularly-polarized light can
give rise to a novel ligand-mediated magneto-electric effect that both
photo-induces a large dynamical effective magnetic field and dramatically
alters the interplay of competing isotropic and anisotropic exchange
interactions. We propose that tailored light pulses can nudge the material
towards the elusive Kitaev quantum spin liquid as well as probe competing
magnetic instabilities far from equilibrium, and predict that the transient
competition of magnetic exchange processes can be readily observed via
pump-probe spectroscopy.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
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