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Tuning into the Kitaev spin liquid phase from a new perspective in Li$_2$IrO$_3$

Yue Yu, Long Liang, Qian Niu, Shaojing Qin

Published Feb 8, 2012• 0 citations
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Abstract

We study a spin model on honeycomb lattice with two types of Heisenberg exchange couplings, $J$ and $\tilde J$, where $J$ is for the conventional spin and and $\tilde J$ for rotated spin. When $\tilde J=0$, this is the conventional Heisenberg model. When J=0, the system is either in a stripy antiferromagnetic order($\tilde J 0$, antiferromagnetic for rotated spin). The competition between two ferromagnetic orders or two antiferromagnetic orders induces Kitaev's spin liquid phase characterized by the exactly solvable Kitaev model ($J=\tilde J$). Our model can be applied to layered Mott insulators A$_2$IrO$_3$ (A=Li, Na). For a monolayer of Li$_2$IrO$_3$, we show that it is possible to tune the controlling parameter into the Kitaev spin liquid regime by a link-dependent Rashba spin-orbital coupling.

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Tuning into the Kitaev spin liquid phase from a new perspective in Li2_22​IrO3_33​
We study a spin model on honeycomb lattice with two types of Heisenberg exchange couplings, JJJ and J~\tilde JJ~, where JJJ is for the conventional spin and and J~\tilde JJ~ for rotated spin. When J~=0\tilde J=0J~=0, this is the conventional Heisenberg model. When J=0, the system is either in a stripy antiferromagnetic order(J~0\tilde J 0J~0, antiferromagnetic for rotated spin). The competition between two ferromagnetic orders or two antiferromagnetic orders induces Kitaev's spin liquid phase characterized by the exactly solvable Kitaev model (J=J~J=\tilde JJ=J~). Our model can be applied to layered Mott insulators A2_22​IrO3_33​ (A=Li, Na). For a monolayer of Li2_22​IrO3_33​, we show that it is possible to tune the controlling parameter into the Kitaev spin liquid regime by a link-dependent Rashba spin-orbital coupling.
We study a spin model on honeycomb lattice with two types of Heisenberg exchange couplings, JJJ and $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{J}$, where JJJ is for the conventional spin and $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{J}$ is for rotated spin. When J=0J=0J=0, the system is either in a stripy antiferromagnetic order ($\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{J}<0$, ferromagnetic for rotated spin) or a zigzag antiferromagnetic order ($\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{J}>0$, antiferromagnetic for rotated spin). The competition between two ferromagnetic orders or between two antiferromagnetic orders induces Kitaev's spin liquid phase, characterized by the exactly solvable Kitaev model ($J=\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{J}$). Our model can be applied to layered Mott insulators AAA2{}_{2}2​IrO3{}_{3}3​ (A=LiA=\text{Li}A=Li, Na). For a monolayer of Li2{}_{2}2​IrO3{}_{3}3​, we show that it is possible to tune the controlling parameter into the Kitaev spin liquid regime by a link-dependent Rashba spin-orbital coupling.
We study a spin model on honeycomb lattice with two types of Heisenberg exchange couplings, JJJ and J~\tilde JJ~, where JJJ is for the conventional spin and and J~\tilde JJ~ for rotated spin. When J~=0\tilde J=0J~=0, this is the conventional Heisenberg model. When J=0, the system is either in a stripy antiferromagnetic order(J~0\tilde J 0J~0, antiferromagnetic for rotated spin). The competition between two ferromagnetic orders or two antiferromagnetic orders induces Kitaev's spin liquid phase characterized by the exactly solvable Kitaev model (J=J~J=\tilde JJ=J~). Our model can be applied to layered Mott insulators A2_22​IrO3_33​ (A=Li, Na). For a monolayer of Li2_22​IrO3_33​, we show that it is possible to tune the controlling parameter into the Kitaev spin liquid regime by a link-dependent Rashba spin-orbital coupling.
We derive and study a spin one-half Hamiltonian on a honeycomb lattice describing the exchange interactions between Ir4+ ions in a family of layered iridates A2IrO3 (A=Li,Na). Depending on the microscopic parameters, the Hamiltonian interpolates between the Heisenberg and exactly solvable Kitaev models. Exact diagonalization and a complementary spin-wave analysis reveal the presence of an extended spin-liquid phase near the Kitaev limit and a conventional Néel state close to the Heisenberg limit. The two phases are separated by an unusual stripy antiferromagnetic state, which is the exact ground state of the model at the midpoint between two limits.
The microscopic modeling of spin-orbit entangled j=1/2j=1/2j=1/2 Mott insulators such as the layered hexagonal iridates Na2IrO3{\mathrm{Na}}_{2}{\mathrm{IrO}}_{3}Na2​IrO3​ and Li2IrO3{\mathrm{Li}}_{2}{\mathrm{IrO}}_{3}Li2​IrO3​ has spurred an interest in the physics of Heisenberg-Kitaev models. Here we explore the effect of lattice distortions on the formation of the collective spin-orbital states that include not only conventionally ordered phases but also gapped and gapless spin-orbital liquids. In particular, we demonstrate that in the presence of distortions, i.e., spatial anisotropies of the exchange couplings, conventionally ordered states are formed through an order-by-disorder selection, which is not only sensitive to the type of exchange anisotropy but also to the relative strength of the Heisenberg and Kitaev couplings. The spin-orbital liquid phases of the Kitaev limit---a gapless phase in the vicinity of spatially isotropic couplings and a gapped Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ phase for a dominant spatial anisotropy of the exchange couplings---show vastly different sensitivities to the inclusion of a Heisenberg exchange. While the gapless phase is remarkably stable, the gapped Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ phase quickly breaks down in what might be a rather unconventional phase transition driven by the simultaneous condensation of its elementary excitations.
Motivated by recent experiments on $\ensuremath{\beta}$-Li2{}_{2}2​IrO3{}_{3}3​, we study the phase diagram of the Heisenberg-Kitaev model on a three-dimensional lattice of tricoordinated Ir4+{}^{4+}4+, dubbed the hyperhoneycomb lattice. The lattice geometry of this material, along with Ir4+{}^{4+}4+ ions carrying Jeff=1/2{J}_{\mathrm{eff}}=1/2Jeff​=1/2 moments, suggests that the Heisenberg-Kitaev model may effectively capture the low-energy spin-physics of the system in the strong-coupling limit. Using a combination of semiclassical analysis, exact solution, and slave-fermion mean-field theory, we find, in addition to the spin liquid, four different magnetically ordered phases depending on the parameter regime. All four magnetic phases---the N\'eel, the polarized ferromagnet, the skew-stripy, and the skew-zig-zag---have collinear spin ordering. The three-dimensional Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid, which extends over an extended parameter regime around the exactly solvable Kitaev point, has a gapless Majorana mode with a deformed Fermi circle (codimensions, dc=2{d}_{c}=2dc​=2). We discuss the effect of the magnetic field and finite temperature on different phases that may be relevant for future experiments.
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.