Physics and Astronomy Calendar

Recent progress in synthesizing insulators with a new type of dominant spin-exchange interaction, known as the Kitaev interaction, has opened new possibilities for experimentally realizing spin liquid compounds. Among the distinctive features of these spin liquids is the possibility that they can harbour protected gapless boundary modes which carry spin but not charge. This possibility raises a challenge of how best to detect these chargeless boundary modes. I will discuss two possibilities — Raman scattering and the heat capacity — as well as what such measurements can reveal about the bulk phase.