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Title: Robust non-Abelian spin liquid and a possible intermediate phase in the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model with magnetic field

Journal Article · · Physical Review. B
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. California State University, Northridge (CSUN), CA (United States)

In this work, we investigate the non-Abelian topological chiral spin-liquid phase in the two-dimensional Kitaev honeycomb model subject to a magnetic field. By combining density matrix renormalization group and exact diagonalization we study the energy spectra, entanglement, topological degeneracy, and expectation values of Wilson loop operators, allowing for a robust characterization. While the ferromagnetic Kitaev spin liquid is already destroyed by a weak magnetic field with Zeeman energy $$H^{FM}_\ast ≈ 0.02$$, the antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin liquid remains robust up to a magnetic field that is an order of magnitude larger, $$H^{AFM}_\ast ≈ 0.2$$. Interestingly, for larger fields $$H^{AFM}_\ast < H < H^{AFM}_{\ast\ast}$$, an intermediate gapless phase is observed, before a second transition to the high-field partially polarized paramagnet. We attribute this rich phase diagram, and the remarkable stability of the chiral topological phase in the AFM Kitaev model, to the interplay of strong spin-orbit coupling and frustration enhanced by the magnetic field. Our findings suggest relevance to recent experiments on RuCl3 under magnetic fields.

Research Organization:
California State University, Northridge (CSUN), CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
David and Lucile Packard Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-06ER46305; ACI-1548562
OSTI ID:
1865377
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1454374
Journal Information:
Physical Review. B, Vol. 97, Issue 24; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 61 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (19)

Magnetic field induced intermediate quantum spin-liquid with a spinon Fermi surface text January 2018
Emergence of a field-driven U(1) spin liquid in the Kitaev honeycomb model journal January 2019
Gapless Kitaev Spin Liquid to Classical String Gas through Tensor Networks text January 2019
Non-Abelian chiral spin liquid in a quantum antiferromagnet revealed by an iPEPS study text January 2018
Nonequilibrium Majorana Dynamics by Quenching a Magnetic Field in Kitaev Spin Liquids text January 2019
Dynamical and Topological Properties of the Kitaev Model in a [111] Magnetic Field text January 2018
Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid journal June 2019
Antiferromagnetic Kitaev Interaction in $f$-Electron Based Honeycomb Magnets text January 2018
Thermal Hall signatures of non-Kitaev spin liquids in honeycomb Kitaev materials text January 2019
Heisenberg-Kitaev Models on Hyperhoneycomb and Stripyhoneycomb Lattices: 3D-2D Equivalence of Ordered States and Phase Diagrams text January 2019
Signatures of magnetic-field-driven quantum phase transitions in the entanglement entropy and spin dynamics of the Kitaev honeycomb model text January 2018
Ground-state phase diagram of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on a kagome lattice text January 2018
Microscopic mechanism for higher-spin Kitaev model text January 2019
Determining topological order from infinite projected entangled pair states text January 2019
Successive Majorana Topological Transitions Driven by a Magnetic Field in the Kitaev Model text January 2018
Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids journal April 2019
Field-induced quantum spin liquid in the Kitaev-Heisenberg model and its relation to α RuCl 3 journal October 2019
Impact of off-diagonal exchange interactions on the Kitaev spin-liquid state of α RuCl 3 journal June 2019
Kitaev honeycomb models in magnetic fields: Dynamical response and dual models journal October 2019

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