We map out the ground state phase diagram of the spin-
21 isotropic Kekul\'e-Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice in the presence of the Heisenberg exchange couplings. Our study relies on large-scale tensor network simulations based on a graph-based projected entangled pair state approach and simple tensor update in the thermodynamic limit. We find that, on top of the quantum spin liquid and conventional magnetically ordered phases which are typical of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model, the Kekul\'e-Heisenberg phase diagram hosts two plaquette valence bond solid (VBS) phases with vanishing magnetic order. While the VBS phases preserve the symmetries of the original Hamiltonian, they differ markedly from the Kitaev spin liquid by having decorated plaquette ordering which is distinguished by a plaquette order parameter.
We explore the phase diagram of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model with nearest neighbor interactions on the honeycomb lattice using the exact diagonalization of finite systems combined with the cluster mean field approximation, and supplemented by the insights from analytic approaches: the linear spin-wave and second-order perturbation theories. This study confirms that by varying the balance between the Heisenberg and Kitaev term, frustrated exchange interactions stabilize in this model either one of four phases with magnetic long range order: N\'eel phase, ferromagnetic phase, and two other phases with coexisting antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic bonds, zigzag and stripy phase, or one of two distinct spin-liquid phases. Out of these latter disordered phases, the one with ferromagnetic Kitaev interactions has a substantially broader range of stability as the neighboring competing ordered phases, ferromagnetic and stripy, have very weak quantum fluctuations. Focusing on the quantum spin-liquid phases, we study spatial spin correlations and dynamic spin structure factor of the model by the exact diagonalization technique, and discuss the evolution of gapped low-energy spin response across the quantum phase transitions between the disordered spin liquid and phases with long range magnetic order.
We study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a bilayer honeycomb lattice including interlayer frustration. Using a set of complementary approaches, namely, Schwinger bosons, dimer series expansion, bond operators, and exact diagonalization, we map out the quantum phase diagram. Analyzing ground-state energies and elementary excitation spectra, we find four distinct phases, corresponding to three collinear magnetic long-range ordered states, and one quantum disordered interlayer dimer phase. We detail that the latter phase is adiabatically connected to an exact singlet product ground state of the bilayer, which exists along a line of maximum interlayer frustration. The order within the remaining three phases will be clarified.
The Kitaev model, whose ground state is a quantum spin liquid (QSL), was originally conceived for spin
S=1/2 moments on a honeycomb lattice. In recent years, the model has been extended to higher
S from both theoretical and experimental interests, but the stability of the QSL ground state has not been systematically clarified for general
S, especially in the presence of other additional interactions, which inevitably exist in candidate materials. Here we study the spin-
S Kitaev-Heisenberg models by using an extension of the pseudofermion functional renormalization group method to general
S. We show that, similar to the
S=1/2 case, the phase diagram for higher
S contains the QSL phases in the vicinities of the pristine ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kitaev models, in addition to four magnetically ordered phases. We find, however, that the QSL phases shrink rapidly with increasing
S, becoming vanishingly narrow for $S\ensuremath{\ge}2$, whereas the phase boundaries between the ordered phases remain almost intact. Our results provide a reference for the search for higher-
S Kitaev materials.
The Kitaev model, which hosts a quantum spin liquid (QSL) in the ground state, was originally defined on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, but can be straightforwardly extended to any tricoordinate lattices in any spatial dimensions. In particular, the three-dimensional (3D) extensions are of interest as a realization of 3D QSLs, and some materials like
β-Li
2IrO
3,
γ-Li
2IrO
3, and
β-ZnIrO
3 were proposed for the candidates. However, the phase diagrams of the models for those candidates have not been fully elucidated, mainly due to the limitation of numerical methods for 3D frustrated quantum spin systems. Here we study the Kitaev-Heisenberg model defined on a 3D hyperhoneycomb lattice, by using the pseudofermion functional renormalization group method. We show that the ground-state phase diagram contains the QSL phases in the vicinities of the pristine ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kitaev models, in addition to four magnetically ordered phases, similar to the two-dimensional honeycomb case. Our results respect the four-sublattice symmetry inherent in the model, which was violated in the previous study. Moreover, we also show how the phase diagram changes with the anisotropy in the interactions. The results provide a reference for the search of the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev materials.
Kitaev's honeycomb-lattice spin-
1/2 model has become a paradigmatic example for
Z2 quantum spin liquids, both gapped and gapless. Here we study the fate of these spin-liquid phases in differently stacked bilayer versions of the Kitaev model. Increasing the ratio between the interlayer Heisenberg coupling ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ and the intralayer Kitaev couplings
Kx,y,z destroys the topological spin liquid in favor of a paramagnetic dimer phase. We study phase diagrams as a function of ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}/K$ and Kitaev coupling anisotropies using Majorana-fermion mean-field theory, and we employ different expansion techniques in the limits of small and large ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}/K$. For strongly anisotropic Kitaev couplings, we derive effective models for the different layer stackings that we use to discuss the quantum phase transition out of the Kitaev phase. We find that the phase diagrams depend sensitively on the nature of the stacking and anisotropy strength. While in some stackings and at strong anisotropies we find a single transition between the Kitaev and dimer phases, other stackings are more involved. Most importantly, we prove the existence of two novel macrospin phases, which can be understood in terms of Ising chains that can be either coupled ferromagnetically or remain degenerate, thus realizing a classical spin liquid. In addition, our results suggest the existence of a flux phase with spontaneous interlayer coherence. We discuss prospects for experimental realizations.