No Arabic abstract
Motivated by recent experiments on $alpha$-RuCl$_3$, we investigate a possible quantum spin liquid ground state of the honeycomb-lattice spin model with bond-dependent interactions. We consider the $K-Gamma$ model, where $K$ and $Gamma$ represent the Kitaev and symmetric-anisotropic interactions between spin-1/2 moments on the honeycomb lattice. Using the infinite density matrix renormalization group (iDMRG), we provide compelling evidence for the existence of quantum spin liquid phases in an extended region of the phase diagram. In particular, we use transfer matrix spectra to show the evolution of two-particle excitations with well-defined two-dimensional dispersion, which is a strong signature of quantum spin liquid. These results are compared with predictions from Majorana mean-field theory and used to infer the quasiparticle excitation spectra. Further, we compute the dynamical structure factor using finite size cluster computations and show that the results resemble the scattering continuum seen in neutron scattering experiments on $alpha$-RuCl$_3$. We discuss these results in light of recent and future experiments.
Two- and three-dimensional Kitaev magnets are prototypical frustrated quantum spin systems, in which the original spin degrees of freedom fractionalize into Majorana fermions and a $mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge field -- a purely local phenomenon that reveals itself as a thermodynamic crossover at a temperature scale set by the strength of the bond-directional interactions. For conventional Kitaev magnets, the low-temperature thermodynamics reveals a second transition at which the $mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge field orders and the system enters a spin liquid ground state. Here we discuss an explicit example that goes beyond this paradigmatic scenario -- the $mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge field is found to be subject to geometric frustration, the thermal ordering transition is suppressed, and an extensive residual entropy arises. Deep in the quantum regime, at temperatures of the order of one per mil of the interaction strength, the degeneracy in the gauge sector is lifted by a subtle interplay between the gauge field and the Majorana fermions, resulting in the formation of a Majorana metal. We discuss the thermodynamic signatures of this physics obtained from large-scale, sign-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations.
Motivated by recent synthesis of the hyper-honeycomb material $beta$-$mathrm{Li_2 Ir O_3}$, we study the dynamical structure factor (DSF) of the corresponding 3D Kitaev quantum spin-liquid (QSL), whose fractionalised degrees of freedom are Majorana fermions and emergent flux-loops. Properties of this 3D model are known to differ in important ways from those of its 2D counterpart -- it has finite-temperature phase transition, as well as distinct features in Raman response. We show, however, that the qualitative behaviour of the DSF is broadly dimension-independent. Characteristics of the 3D DSF include a response gap even in the gapless QSL phase and an energy dependence deriving from the Majorana fermion density of states. Since the majority of the response is from states containing a single Majorana excitation, our results suggest inelastic neutron scattering as the spectroscopy of choice to illuminate the physics of Majorana fermions in Kitaev QSLs.
The van der Waals magnets provide an ideal platform to explore quantum magnetism both theoretically and experimentally. We study a classical J1-J2 model with distinct magnetic degrees of freedom on a honeycomb lattice that can be realized in some van der Waals magnets. We find that the model develops a spiral spin liquid (SSL), a massively degenerated state with spiral contours in the reciprocal space, not only for continuous spin vectors, XY and Heisenberg spins but also for Ising spin moments. Surprisingly, the SSL is more robust for the Ising case, and the shape of the spiral contours is pinned to an emergent kagome structure at the low temperatures for different J2. The spin-chirality order for the continuous spins at the finite temperatures is further connected to the electric polarization via the inverse Dzyaloshinski-Moriya mechanism. These results provide a guidance for the experimental realization of 2D SSLs, and the SSL can further be used as the mother state to generate skyrmions that are promising candidates for future memory devices.
A quantum magnet, LiCuSbO4, with chains of edge-sharing S = 1/2 CuO6 octahedra is reported. While the Curie-Weiss constant is ferromagnetic, theta = 30 K, no phase transition or spin freezing occurs down to 100 mK. Specific heat indicates a distinct high field phase near the 12 T saturation field. Neutron scattering shows incommensurate spin correlations with q = 0.47pm0.01{pi}/a and places an upper limit of 70 mueV on a potential spin gap. Exact diagonalization of easy plane S = 1/2 chains with competing ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions (J1 = - 75 K, J2 = 34 K) accounts for the T > 2 K data.
We overview physical effects of exchange frustration and quantum spin fluctuations in (quasi-) two dimensional (2D) quantum magnets ($S=1/2$) with square, rectangular and triangular structure. Our discussion is based on the $J_1$-$J_2$ type frustrated exchange model and its generalizations. These models are closely related and allow to tune between different phases, magnetically ordered as well as more exotic nonmagnetic quantum phases by changing only one or two control parameters. We survey ground state properties like magnetization, saturation fields, ordered moment and structure factor in the full phase diagram as obtained from numerical exact diagonalization computations and analytical linear spin wave theory. We also review finite temperature properties like susceptibility, specific heat and magnetocaloric effect using the finite temperature Lanczos method. This method is powerful to determine the exchange parameters and g-factors from experimental results. We focus mostly on the observable physical frustration effects in magnetic phases where plenty of quasi-2D material examples exist to identify the influence of quantum fluctuations on magnetism.