A Field Guide to Spin Liquids

Abstract

Spin liquids are collective phases of quantum matter that have eluded discovery in correlated magnetic materials for over half a century. Theoretical models of these enigmatic topological phases are no longer in short supply. In experiment there also exist plenty of promising candidate materials for their realization. One of the central challenges for the clear diagnosis of a spin liquid has been to connect the two. From that perspective, this review discusses characteristic features in experiment, resulting from the unusual properties of spin liquids. This takes us to thermodynamic, spectroscopic, transport, and other experiments on a search for traces of emergent gauge fields, spinons, Majorana fermions, and other fractionalized particles.