Quantum walk versus classical wave: Distinguishing ground states of quantum magnets by spacetime dynamics
Abstract
We investigate the wavepacket spreading after a single spin flip in prototypical two-dimensional ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic quantum spin systems. We find characteristic spatial magnon density profiles: While the ferromagnet shows a square-shaped pattern reflecting the underlying lattice structure, as exhibited by quantum walkers, the antiferromagnet shows a circular-shaped pattern which hides the lattice structure and instead resembles a classical wave pattern. We trace these fundamentally different behaviors back to the distinctly different magnon energy-momentum dispersion relations and also provide a real-space interpretation. Our findings point to new opportunities for real-time, real-space imaging of quantum magnets both in materials science and in quantum simulators.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2002.00812,
title = {Quantum walk versus classical wave: Distinguishing ground states of quantum magnets by spacetime dynamics},
author = {Piotr Wrzosek and Krzysztof Wohlfeld and Damian Hofmann and Tomasz Sowiński and Michael A. Sentef},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.00812},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
10 pages, 8 figures; title changed with respect to previous version