Field-induced quantum spin liquid in the Kitaev-Heisenberg model and its relation to
Abstract
Recently considerable excitement has arisen due to the experimental observation of a field-induced spin liquid phase in the compound α– RuCl3. Yet, the nature of this putative spin liquid phase and the relevant microscopic model Hamiltonian remain still unclear. In this work, we address these questions by performing large-scale numerical simulations of a generalized Kitaev-Heisenberg model proposed to describe the physics of α– RuCl3. Although an intermediate phase does not appear for in-plane magnetic fields, our results strongly suggest that a stable intermediate spin liquid phase, sandwiched between a magnetically ordered phase at low fields and a high-field polarized phase, can be induced by out-of-plane magnetic fields. Moreover, we show that this field-induced spin liquid phase can be smoothly connected to a spin liquid possessing a spinon Fermi surface as proposed recently for the Kitaev model. The relevance of our findings to α– RuCl3 is also discussed.
- Authors:
-
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1574854
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review B
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 100; Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Citation Formats
Jiang, Yi-Fan, Devereaux, Thomas P., and Jiang, Hong-Chen. Field-induced quantum spin liquid in the Kitaev-Heisenberg model and its relation to α–RuCl3. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1103/physrevb.100.165123.
Jiang, Yi-Fan, Devereaux, Thomas P., & Jiang, Hong-Chen. Field-induced quantum spin liquid in the Kitaev-Heisenberg model and its relation to α–RuCl3. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.100.165123
Jiang, Yi-Fan, Devereaux, Thomas P., and Jiang, Hong-Chen. Tue .
"Field-induced quantum spin liquid in the Kitaev-Heisenberg model and its relation to α–RuCl3". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.100.165123. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1574854.
@article{osti_1574854,
title = {Field-induced quantum spin liquid in the Kitaev-Heisenberg model and its relation to α–RuCl3},
author = {Jiang, Yi-Fan and Devereaux, Thomas P. and Jiang, Hong-Chen},
abstractNote = {Recently considerable excitement has arisen due to the experimental observation of a field-induced spin liquid phase in the compound α– RuCl3. Yet, the nature of this putative spin liquid phase and the relevant microscopic model Hamiltonian remain still unclear. In this work, we address these questions by performing large-scale numerical simulations of a generalized Kitaev-Heisenberg model proposed to describe the physics of α– RuCl3. Although an intermediate phase does not appear for in-plane magnetic fields, our results strongly suggest that a stable intermediate spin liquid phase, sandwiched between a magnetically ordered phase at low fields and a high-field polarized phase, can be induced by out-of-plane magnetic fields. Moreover, we show that this field-induced spin liquid phase can be smoothly connected to a spin liquid possessing a spinon Fermi surface as proposed recently for the Kitaev model. The relevance of our findings to α– RuCl3 is also discussed.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevb.100.165123},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 16,
volume = 100,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {10}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

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