Work

Classical Spin Liquid Instability Driven By Off-Diagonal Exchange in Strong Spin-Orbit Magnets

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: We show that the off-diagonal exchange anisotropy drives Mott insulators with strong spin-orbit coupling to a classical spin liquid regime, characterized by an infinite number of ground states and Ising variables living on closed or open strings. Depending on the sign of the anisotropy, quantum fluctuations either fail to lift the degeneracy down to very low temperatures, or select noncoplanar magnetic states with unconventional spin correlations. The results apply to all 2D and 3D tricoordinated materials with bond-directional anisotropy and provide a consistent interpretation of the suppression of the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism signal reported recently for β-Li_{2}IrO_{3} under pressure.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.118.147204

Authors: Ioannis Rousochatzakis, Natalia B. Perkins

Institution: University of Minnesota

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Condensed Matter Physics

Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Aspen Center for Physics

Awards: Programs on Critical Problems in Physics, Astrophysics and Biophysics at the Aspen Center for Physics, CAREER: Emergent Phases of Correlated Electrons in Materials with Spin-Orbit Coupling and Magnetic Frustration