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Register a new userHighly-anisotropic exchange interactions of $j_{rm eff}=1/2$ iridium moments on the fcc lattice in La$_2B$IrO$_6$ ($B$ $=$ Mg, Zn)
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We have performed inelastic neutron scattering (INS) experiments to investigate the magnetic excitations in the weakly distorted face-centered-cubic (fcc) iridate double perovskites La$_2$ZnIrO$_6$ and La$_2$MgIrO$_6$, which are characterized by A-type antiferromagnetic ground states. The powder inelastic neutron scattering data on these geometrically frustrated $j_{rm eff}=1/2$ Mott insulators provide clear evidence for gapped spin wave excitations with very weak dispersion. The INS results and thermodynamic data on these materials can be reproduced by conventional Heisenberg-Ising models with significant uniaxial Ising anisotropy and sizeable second-neighbor ferromagnetic interactions. Such a uniaxial Ising exchange interaction is symmetry-forbidden on the ideal fcc lattice, so that it can only arise from the weak crystal distortions away from the ideal fcc limit. This may suggest that even weak distortions in $j_{rm eff}=1/2$ Mott insulators might lead to strong exchange anisotropies. More tantalizingly, however, we find an alternative viable explanation of the INS results in terms of spin models with a dominant Kitaev interaction. In contrast to the uniaxial Ising exchange, the highly-directional Kitaev interaction is a type of exchange anisotropy which is symmetry-allowed even on the ideal fcc lattice. The Kitaev model has a magnon gap induced by quantum order-by-disorder, while weak anisotropies of the Kitaev couplings generated by the symmetry-lowering due to lattice distortions, can pin the order and enhance the magnon gap. Our findings highlight how even conventional magnetic orders in heavy transition metal oxides may be driven by highly-directional exchange interactions rooted in strong spin-orbit coupling.
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Heavy transition metal magnets with $J_{rm eff}$ $=$ 1/2 electronic ground states have attracted recent interest due to their penchant for hosting new classes of quantum spin liquids and superconductors. Unfortunately, model systems with ideal $J_{rm eff}$ $=$ 1/2 states are scarce due to the importance of non-cubic local distortions in most candidate materials. In this work, we identify a family of iridium halide systems [i.e. K$_2$IrCl$_6$, K$_2$IrBr$_6$, (NH$_4$)$_2$IrCl$_6$, and Na$_2$IrCl$_6 cdotp $ 6(H$_2$O)] with Ir$^{4+}$ electronic ground states in extremely close proximity to the ideal $J_{rm eff}$ $=$ 1/2 limit, despite a variation in the low-temperature global crystal structures. We also find ordered magnetic ground states for the three anhydrous systems, with single crystal neutron diffraction on K$_2$IrBr$_6$ revealing Type-I antiferromagnetism. This spin configuration is consistent with expectations for significant Kitaev exchange in a face-centered-cubic magnet.
We have performed inelastic neutron scattering experiments to investigate the magnetic excitations in the quasi-face-centered-cubic (fcc) iridate double perovskites La2ZnIrO6 and La2MgIrO6, which are characterized by A-type antiferromagnetic ground states. The neutron scattering data, which reveal gapped spin wave excitations with a very weak dispersion, are shown to be well-described by theoretical calculations on a model Hamiltonian with dominant Kitaev interactions. Our surprising finding shows that in contrast to honeycomb materials, where the Kitaev interaction manifests itself via complex magnetic order, even conventional magnetic orders in certain geometrically frustrated systems might owe their existence to unconventional Kitaev exchange.
Polycrystalline samples of NaYbO$_2$ are investigated by bulk magnetization and specific-heat measurements, as well as by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron spin resonance (ESR) as local probes. No signatures of long-range magnetic order are found down to 0.3~K, evidencing a highly frustrated spin-liquid-like ground state in zero field. Above 2,T, signatures of magnetic order are observed in thermodynamic measurements, suggesting the possibility of a field-induced quantum phase transition. The $^{23}$Na NMR relaxation rates reveal the absence of magnetic order and persistent fluctuations down to 0.3~K at very low fields and confirm the bulk magnetic order above 2~T. The $H$-$T$ phase diagram is obtained and discussed along with the existing theoretical concepts for layered spin-$frac{1}{2}$ triangular-lattice antiferromagnets
By means of density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory (DFT+DMFT) calculations and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments, we investigate the high-pressure phases of the spin-orbit-coupled $J_{rm{eff}}=3/2$ insulator GaTa$_4$Se$_8$. Its metallic phase, derived from the Mott state by applying pressure, is found to carry $J_{rm{eff}}=3/2$ moments. The characteristic excitation peak in the RIXS spectrum maintains its destructive quantum interference of $J_{rm{eff}}$ at the Ta $L_2$-edge up to 10.4 GPa. Our exact diagonalization based DFT+DMFT calculations including spin-orbit coupling also reveal that the $J_{rm{eff}}=3/2$ character can be clearly identified under high pressure. These results establish the intriguing nature of the correlated metallic magnetic phase, which represents the first confirmed example of $J_{rm{eff}}$=3/2 moments residing in a metal. They also indicate that the pressure-induced superconductivity is likely unconventional and influenced by these $J_{rm{eff}}=3/2$ moments. Based on a self-energy analysis, we furthermore propose the possibility of doping-induced superconductivity related to a spin-freezing crossover.
The zero-temperature quantum phase diagram of the spin-$frac{1}{2}$ $J_{1}$--$J_{2}$--$J_{1}^{perp}$ model on an $AA$-stacked bilayer honeycomb lattice is investigated using the coupled cluster method (CCM). The model comprises two monolayers in each of which the spins, residing on honeycomb-lattice sites, interact via both nearest-neighbor (NN) and frustrating next-nearest-neighbor isotropic antiferromagnetic (AFM) Heisenberg exchange iteractions, with respective strengths $J_{1} > 0$ and $J_{2} equiv kappa J_{1}>0$. The two layers are coupled via a comparable Heisenberg exchange interaction between NN interlayer pairs, with a strength $J_{1}^{perp} equiv delta J_{1}$. The complete phase boundaries of two quasiclassical collinear AFM phases, namely the N{e}el and N{e}el-II phases, are calculated in the $kappa delta$ half-plane with $kappa > 0$. Whereas on each monolayer in the N{e}el state all NN pairs of spins are antiparallel, in the N{e}el-II state NN pairs of spins on zigzag chains along one of the three equivalent honeycomb-lattice directions are antiparallel, while NN interchain spins are parallel. We calculate directly in the thermodynamic (infinite-lattice) limit both the magnetic order parameter $M$ and the excitation energy $Delta$ from the $s^{z}_{T}=0$ ground state to the lowest-lying $|s^{z}_{T}|=1$ excited state (where $s^{z}_{T}$ is the total $z$ component of spin for the system as a whole, and where the collinear ordering lies along the $z$ direction) for both quasiclassical states used (separately) as the CCM model state, on top of which the multispin quantum correlations are then calculated to high orders ($n leq 10$) in a systematic series of approximations involving $n$-spin clusters. The sole approximation made is then to extrapolate the sequences of $n$th-order results for $M$ and $Delta$ to the exact limit, $n to infty$.
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