School of Physics Thesis Dissertation Defense - Fatemeh Borhani
Dr. Itamar Kimchi, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology (Advisor)
Emergence of Chirality from Crystalline Defects in Kitaev Spin Liquids
Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Location: Howey N110
Committee members:
Dr. Dragomir Davidovic, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Martin Mourigal, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Zhigang Zhang, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Joshua Kretchmer, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abstract:
We study the spin-1/2 Kitaev honeycomb gapless spin liquid in the presence of various defects that create odd-sided plaquettes, including topological dislocations and Stone-Wales–type local lattice defects. These defects induce local chirality and orbital magnetization. While the clean Kitaev model exhibits no finite-temperature phase transitions, a finite defect density leads to a genuine phase transition, with a transition temperature that scales with the defect density. This disorder-driven instability arises from an emergent long-range ferromagnetic interaction, r^γ (γ≈2.7), between defect-induced chiralities, mediated by the nearly gapless Majorana fermions.
Event Details
Date/Time:
-
Date:Friday, March 6, 2026 - 8:30am to 9:30am
