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Register a new userField induced quantum spin liquid with spinon Fermi surfaces in the Kitaev model
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Recent experimental evidence for a field-induced quantum spin liquid (QSL) in $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ calls for an understanding for the ground state of honeycomb Kitaev model under a magnetic field. In this work we address the nature of an enigmatic gapless paramagnetic phase in the antiferromagnetic Kitave model, under an intermediate magnetic field perpendicular to the plane. Combining theoretical and numerical efforts, we identify this gapless phase as a $U(1)$ QSL with spinon Fermi surfaces. We also reveal the nature of continuous quantum phase transitions involving this $U(1)$ QSL, and obtain a phase diagram of the Kitaev model as a function of bond anisotropy and perpendicular magnetic field.
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We study the interplay of competing interactions in spin-$1/2$ triangular Heisenberg model through tuning the first- ($J_1$), second- ($J_2$), and third-neighbor ($J_3$) couplings. Based on large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculation, we identify a quantum phase diagram of the system and discover a new {it gapless} chiral spin liquid (CSL) phase in the intermediate $J_2$ and $J_3$ regime. This CSL state spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry with finite scalar chiral order, and it has gapless excitations implied by a vanishing spin triplet gap and a finite central charge on the cylinder. Moreover, the central charge grows rapidly with the cylinder circumference, indicating emergent spinon Fermi surfaces. To understand the numerical results we propose a parton mean-field spin liquid state, the $U(1)$ staggered flux state, which breaks time-reversal symmetry with chiral edge modes by adding a Chern insulator mass to Dirac spinons in the $U(1)$ Dirac spin liquid. This state also breaks lattice rotational symmetries and possesses two spinon Fermi surfaces driven by nonzero $J_2$ and $J_3$, which naturally explains the numerical results. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a gapless CSL state with coexisting spinon Fermi surfaces and chiral edge states, demonstrating the rich family of novel phases emergent from competing interactions in triangular-lattice magnets.
The ground state of the quantum kagome antiferromagnet Zn-brochantite, ZnCu$_3$(OH)$_6$SO$_4$, which is one of only a few known spin-liquid (SL) realizations in two or three dimensions, has been described as a gapless SL with a spinon Fermi surface. Employing nuclear magnetic resonance in a broad magnetic-field range down to millikelvin temperatures, we show that in applied magnetic fields this enigmatic state is intrinsically unstable against a SL with a full or a partial gap. A similar instability of the gapless Fermi-surface SL was previously encountered in an organic triangular-lattice antiferromagnet, suggesting a common destabilization mechanism that most likely arises from spinon pairing. A salient property of this instability is that an infinitesimal field suffices to induce it, as predicted theoretically for some other types of gapless SLs.
Recent theoretical studies have found quantum spin liquid states with spinon Fermi surfaces upon the application of a magnetic field on a gapped state with topological order. We investigate the thermal Hall conductivity across this transition, describing how the quantized thermal Hall conductivity of the gapped state changes to an unquantized thermal Hall conductivity in the gapless spinon Fermi surface state. We consider two cases, both of potential experimental interest: the state with non-Abelian Ising topological order on the honeycomb lattice, and the state with Abelian chiral spin liquid topological order on the triangular lattice.
Recent proposals for spin-1 Kitaev materials, such as honeycomb Ni oxides with heavy elements of Bi and Sb, have shown that these compounds naturally give rise to antiferromagnetic (AFM) Kitaev couplings. Conceptual interest in such AFM Kitaev systems has been sparked by the observation of a transition to a gapless $U(1)$ spin liquid at intermediate field strengths in the AFM spin-1/2 Kitaev model. However, all hitherto known spin-1/2 Kitaev materials exhibit ferromagnetic bond-directional exchanges. Here we discuss the physics of the spin-1 Kitaev model in a magnetic field and show, by extensive numerical analysis, that for AFM couplings it exhibits an extended gapless quantum spin liquid at intermediate field strengths. The close analogy to its spin-1/2 counterpart suggests that this gapless spin liquid is a $U(1)$ spin liquid with a neutral Fermi surface, that gives rise to enhanced thermal transport signatures.
In this paper we study the optical properties of $U(1)$ spin liquids with large spinon Fermi surfaces based on a simple formula for the bulk optical conductivity obtained through the Ioffe-Larkin composition rule. We show that the optical conductivity of $U(1)$ spin liquids at energies above the charge gap has a unique feature that distinguishes them from ordinary insulators. In particular we show the existence of a long-life surface plasmon mode propagating along the interface between a linear medium and the spin liquid at frequencies above the charge gap, which can be detected by the widely used Kretschmann-Raether three-layer configuration.
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