
Han Yan
Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Japan
Designing Light in an Artificial Universe of QED
Quantum spin ice (QSI) is a lattice spin-model realization of full-fledged quantum electrodynamics, including photons, electric charges, and magnetic monopoles [1]. As one of the most interesting quantum spin liquids, a significant amount of experimental and theoretical investigation has been done in this field. I will present an overview of the quantum spin ice physics and also discuss our recent ongoing work [2] on how, in the so-called dipole-octupole QSI [3], one can experimentally have clean control of the dynamics of its emergent QED, including the transition between different symmetry-enriched phases, tuning the dispersion of photons and fine-structure constants, etc. One of the most straightforward experiments can achieve this: turning on the external magnetic field in the right direction.
[1] Experimental signatures of emergent quantum electrodynamics in Pr2Hf2O7, Romain Sibille, Nicolas Gauthier, HY et al., Nature Physics 14, 711–715 (2018)
[2] Experimentally tunable QED in dipolar-octupolar quantum spin ice. HY, Alaric Sanders, Claudio Castelnovo, Andriy H Nevidomskyy, arXiv:2312.11641.
[3] Fractional matter coupled to the emergent gauge field in a quantum spin ice, V Porée, HY, F Desrochers et al., Nature Physics (2024).