The last few decades of condensed matter research have seen the emergence of a rich new physics, based on the notion of "spin liquids". Interest in these new states of matter stems from the fact that they exhibit large-scale quantum entanglement, a property that is fundamental to quantum computation. By directly exploiting this notion of entanglement, a quantum computer would enable revolutionary approaches to certain classes of problems, compared with conventional computers.

The study of spin liquids is therefore a key technological issue, and the aim of this thesis project is to contribute to this fundamental research effort.