Felix Flicker

The kagome lattice of spin-1/2 copper atoms in herbertsmithite is conjectured to sustain a quantum spin liquid state with spinon quasiparticles. Ideally, the kagome crystal planes are each separated by a plane of spinless zinc atoms. However, in real crystals, some spin-1/2 copper atoms substitute randomly onto these inter-kagome zinc sites. Here we reconceptualize such ‘impurity’ atoms as quantum witness spins whose dynamics is designed to probe the spin liquid state. We then introduce spin noise spectroscopy to measure the frequency and temperature dependence of witness spin dynamics, demonstrating that their phenomenology is consistent with extensive interactions between witness spins mediated by propagation of spinons through a quantum spin liquid. Ultimately, a sharp transition occurs at around 260 mK, below which the properties of both spin noise and magnetic susceptibility suggest that the witness spins form a spin glass phase. Among the theoretical models considered, we demonstrate that our observations are only consistent with spinon-mediated interactions between witness spins by either a Z ₂ or U(1) quantum spin liquid, with the former model more closely matching the data. Our work demonstrates that quantum mechanical witness spins may now conceivably be used as a widely applicable probe of quantum spin liquid physics.

Linear magnetoresistance (LMR) is a widespread phenomenon observed in a host of quantum materials ranging from semiconductor nanostructures to quantum critical and strange metals. While multiple scenarios to explain LMR have been proposed, a complete understanding of the phenomenon remains elusive. It is highly likely that the origin of LMR depends on the specific electronic state. Here, we report a study of the impact of disorder on the form of the magnetoresistance of the prototypical charge-density-wave (CDW) compound 2 H -NbSe ₂ . The magnetoresistance is shown to exhibit strong qualitative and quantitative agreement with Boltzmann transport analysis incorporating impeded cyclotron motion (ICM). We identify the source of ICM in 2 H -NbSe ₂ as strong scattering sinks where the CDW order connects the high-temperature Fermi cylinders. Such unusual “hotspots” provide an explanation for the observed LMR as well as for the long-unexplained absence of quantum oscillations inside the charge-ordered state in 2 H -NbSe ₂ . These findings provide strong evidence that ICM generates LMR in certain correlated metals.

The physics of complex systems stands to greatly benefit from the qualitative changes in data availability and advances in data-driven computational methods. Many of these systems can be represented by interacting degrees of freedom on inhomogeneous graphs. However, the lack of translational invariance presents a fundamental challenge to theoretical tools, such as the renormalization group, which were so successful in characterizing the universal physical behaviour in critical phenomena. Here we show that compression theory allows the extraction of relevant degrees of freedom in arbitrary geometries, and the development of efficient numerical tools to build an effective theory from data. We demonstrate our method by applying it to a strongly correlated system on an Ammann-Beenker quasicrystal, where it discovers an exotic critical point with broken conformal symmetry. We also apply it to an antiferromagnetic system on non-bipartite random graphs, where any periodicity is absent.

Superconductivity often emerges as a dome around a quantum critical point (QCP) where long-range order is suppressed to zero temperature, mostly in magnetically ordered materials. However, the emergence of superconductivity at charge-order QCPs remains shrouded in mystery, despite its relevance to high-temperature superconductors and other exotic phases of matter. Here, we present resistance measurements proving that a dome of superconductivity surrounds the putative charge-density-wave QCP in pristine samples of titanium diselenide tuned with hydrostatic pressure. In addition, our quantum oscillation measurements combined with electronic structure calculations show that superconductivity sets in precisely when large electron and hole pockets suddenly appear through an abrupt change of the Fermi surface topology, also known as a Lifshitz transition. Combined with the known repulsive interaction, this suggests that unconventional s _± superconductivity is mediated by charge-density-wave fluctuations in titanium diselenide. These results highlight the importance of the electronic ground state and charge fluctuations in enabling unconventional superconductivity.

We consider infinite sequences of superstable orbits (cascades) generated by systematic substitutions of letters in the symbolic dynamics of one-dimensional nonlinear systems in the logistic map universality class. We identify the conditions under which the topological entropy of successive words converges as a double exponential onto the accumulation point, and find the convergence rates analytically for selected cascades. Numerical tests of the convergence of the control parameter reveal a tendency to quantitatively universal double-exponential convergence. Taking a specific physical example, we consider cascades of stable orbits described by symbolic sequences with the symmetries of quasilattices. We show that all quasilattices can be realised as stable trajectories in nonlinear dynamical systems, extending previous results in which two were identified.

We study Majorana modes bound to vortex cores in a chiral \bm{p} ???? -wave superconductor at temperatures non-negligible compared to the superconducting gap. Thermal occupation of Caroli de Gennes-Matricon (CdGM) states, below the full gap, causes the free energy difference between the two fermionic parity sectors to decay algebraically with increasing temperature. The power law acquires an additional factor of \bm{T^{-1}} ???? − 1 for each bound state thermally excited. The zero-temperature result is exponentially recovered well below the minigap (lowest-lying CdGM level). Our results suggest that temperatures larger than the minigap may not be disastrous for topological quantum computation. We discuss the prospect of precision measurements of pinning forces on vortices as a readout scheme for Majorana qubits.