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arXiv:2409.04389 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Pairing tendencies in the doped Kitaev-Heisenberg model

Pontus Laurell, Bradraj Pandey, Gábor B. Halász, Satoshi Okamoto, Gonzalo Álvarez, Elbio R. Dagotto

Published Dec 20, 2024• 3 citations
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Abstract

We study the impact of hole doping on the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. We investigate the pairing tendencies and correlation functions in the framework of a $t\ensuremath{-}J\ensuremath{-}K$ model using density matrix renormalization group calculations on three-leg cylinders. In the case of the pure Kitaev model, which realizes a quantum spin-liquid phase at half-filling, we find that binding of two holes only occurs at low values of the hopping, where the holes are slow. We have theoretically verified that pair formation occurs in the limit of immobile holes, where the pure Kitaev model remains exactly solvable. When we instead fix the hopping at an intermediate, more realistic, value, and vary the Heisenberg and Kitaev interaction strengths, we find pairing tendencies only in the N\'eel phase. This is in contrast to prior mean-field calculations, highlighting the importance of accounting for the kinetic energy of dopants in generalized Kitaev models. Interestingly, we also find signatures of pair-density wave formation over the studied range of model parameters, namely, a periodic modulation of the charge density as well as the spin-spin and pair-pair correlations in real space. Moreover, we present a comparative study of the different correlations as a function of doping. We finally discuss the potential for experimentally observing the studied physics in quantum materials and heterostructures.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.110.224518

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We study the impact of hole doping on the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. We investigate the pairing tendencies and correlation functions in the framework of a t\ensuremath−J\ensuremath−Kt\ensuremath{-}J\ensuremath{-}Kt\ensuremath−J\ensuremath−K model using density matrix renormalization group calculations on three-leg cylinders. In the case of the pure Kitaev model, which realizes a quantum spin-liquid phase at half-filling, we find that binding of two holes only occurs at low values of the hopping, where the holes are slow. We have theoretically verified that pair formation occurs in the limit of immobile holes, where the pure Kitaev model remains exactly solvable. When we instead fix the hopping at an intermediate, more realistic, value, and vary the Heisenberg and Kitaev interaction strengths, we find pairing tendencies only in the N'eel phase. This is in contrast to prior mean-field calculations, highlighting the importance of accounting for the kinetic energy of dopants in generalized Kitaev models. Interestingly, we also find signatures of pair-density wave formation over the studied range of model parameters, namely, a periodic modulation of the charge density as well as the spin-spin and pair-pair correlations in real space. Moreover, we present a comparative study of the different correlations as a function of doping. We finally discuss the potential for experimentally observing the studied physics in quantum materials and heterostructures.
Abstract We study the effects of doping the Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice where the spins interact via the bond-directional interaction JK, which is known to have a quantum spin liquid as its exact ground state. The effect of hole doping is studied within the t-JK model on a three-leg cylinder using density-matrix renormalization group. Upon light doping, we find that the ground state of the system has a dominant quasi-long-range charge-density-wave correlations but short-range single-particle correlations. In the pairing channel, the even-parity superconducting correlation is dominant with d-wave-like symmetry, which oscillates in sign as a function of separation with a period equal to that of the spin-density wave and two times the charge-density wave. Although these correlations fall rapidly (possibly exponentially) at long distances, this is never-the-less the example where a pair-density wave is the leading instability in the pairing channel on the honeycomb lattice.
We investigate the hole-doped Kitaev-Heisenberg (ttt-JJJ-KKK) model on a two-leg ladder geometry using the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We first consider the behavior of the antiferromagnetic Kitaev (AFK) spin-liquid phase as a function of hopping strength ttt and doping level. This reveals intriguing pairing tendencies only for tK≲0.65\frac{t}{K} \lesssim 0.65Kt​≲0.65, consistent with prior results on three-leg ladders, and firmly supports the emerging picture that the physics of doped Kitaev spin liquids strongly depends on the kinetic energy of the doped holes. Analysis of one- and two-hole doping uncovers close links between the spatial profiles of the plaquette operator and the charge density. We construct a doping-dependent phase diagram for antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions and intermediate hopping t=1t=1t=1. Upon doping, the rung-singlet region develops dominant superconducting correlations. Charge-density-wave correlations dominate at weak doping near the transition to the stripy phase. Spin-density wave-like behavior is found in the AFK and ferromagnetic Kitaev limits, and in the stripy phase.
Abstract Doped quantum magnets, especially spin liquids with fractionalized excitations, have long attracted attention as a promising path towards unconventional superconductivity. We investigate the hole-doped Kitaev-Heisenberg ( t – J – K ) model on a two-leg ladder geometry using the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We consider the behavior of the antiferromagnetic Kitaev spin-liquid phase as a function of hopping strength t and doping level. This reveals intriguing pairing tendencies only for tK≲0.65\frac{t}{K}\lesssim 0.65Kt​≲0.65 t K ≲ 0.65 , consistent with prior results on three-leg ladders, and firmly supports the emerging picture that the physics of doped Kitaev spin liquids strongly depends on the kinetic energy of the doped holes. Analysis of one- and two-hole doping uncovers close links between spatial profiles of the plaquette operator and the charge density. We also construct a doping-dependent phase diagram for antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions and intermediate hopping t = 1. Upon doping, the rung-singlet region develops dominant superconducting correlations. Spin-density wave-like behavior is found in the Kitaev limits, and in the stripy phase.
We present a controlled microscopic study of mobile holes in the spatially anisotropic (Abelian) gapped phase of the Kitaev honeycomb model. We address the properties of (i) a single hole (its internal degrees of freedom as well as its hopping properties); (ii) a pair of holes [their (relative) particle statistics and interactions]; and (iii) the collective state for a finite density of holes. We find that each hole in the doped model has an eight-dimensional internal space, characterized by three internal quantum numbers: the first two ``fractional'' quantum numbers describe the binding to the hole of the fractional excitations (fluxes and fermions) of the undoped model, while the third ``spin'' quantum number determines the local magnetization around the hole. The fractional quantum numbers also encode fundamentally distinct particle properties, topologically robust against small local perturbations: some holes are free to hop in two dimensions, while others are confined to hop in one dimension only; distinct hole types have different particle statistics, and in particular, some of them exhibit nontrivial (anyonic) relative statistics. These particle properties in turn determine the physical properties of the multihole ground state at finite doping, and we identify two distinct ground states with different hole types that are stable for different model parameters. The respective hopping dimensionalities manifest themselves in an electrical conductivity approximately isotropic in one ground state and extremely anisotropic in the other one. We also compare our microscopic study with related mean-field treatments, and discuss the main discrepancies between the two approaches, which in particular involve the possibility of binding fractional excitations as well as the particle statistics of the holes. On a technical level, we describe the hopping of mobile holes via a quasistationary approach, where effective hopping matrix elements are calculated between ground states with stationary holes at different positions. This approach relies on the fact that the model remains exactly solvable in the presence of stationary holes, and that the motion of sufficiently slow holes does not generate bulk excitations in a gapped phase. When the bare hopping amplitude is much smaller than the energy gap, many of our results, in particular those on the hopping properties and the particle statistics, are exact.
We investigate the stability of topological phases in doped Kitaev-Heisenberg ladders by studying the competition with itinerant electrons and the associated charge fluctuations in a Hubbard model on a honeycomb ribbon geometry. We analyze the evolution of string order parameters, spin correlations, and charge fluctuations as functions of hopping amplitude and interaction strength in a half-filled band. Our results from density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations show that increasing electron bandwidth progressively suppresses the topological phases, shifting and narrowing their stability regions in the phase diagram. We identify the critical values of hopping where string order vanishes and characterize the interplay between magnetic order and charge fluctuations. These findings provide insight into the robustness of topological phases against doping and charge dynamics, with implications for candidate Kitaev materials and engineered quantum systems.
We study the Kitaev-Heisenberg model with spin-1 local degree of freedom on a honeycomb lattice numerically by the infinite density matrix renormalization group method on a cylinder geometry. By tuning the relative value of the Kitaev and Heisenberg exchange couplings, we obtain the phase diagram with two spin liquid phases and four symmetry-broken phases. We identify that the spin liquid phases are gapless by calculating the central charge at the pure Kitaev points without the Heisenberg interactions. Comparing to its spin-1/2 counterpart, the position and number of gapless modes of the spin-1 case are quite different. Due to the approximate Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ local conservations, the expectation value of the Wilson loop operator measuring the flux of each plaquette stays near to 1, and the static spin-spin correlations remain short range in the entire spin liquid phases.