Gapless quantum spin liquid in a honeycomb Γ magnet
Gapless quantum spin liquid in a honeycomb Γ magnet
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DOI：
10.1038/s41535-021-00356-z
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发表时间：
2021
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Xiaoqun Wang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Qiang Luo;Jize Zhao;Hae-Yong Kee;Xiaoqun Wang
A family of spin–orbit coupled honeycomb Mott insulators offers a playground to search for quantum spin liquids (QSLs) via bond-dependent interactions. In candidate materials, a symmetric off-diagonal Γ term, close cousin of Kitaev interaction, has emerged as another source of frustration that is essential for complete understanding of these systems. However, the ground state of honeycomb Γ model remains elusive, with a suggested zigzag magnetic order. Here we attempt to resolve the puzzle by perturbing the Γ region with a staggered Heisenberg interaction which favours the zigzag ordering. Despite such favour, we find a wide disordered region inclusive of the Γ limit in the phase diagram. Further, this phase exhibits a vanishing energy gap, a collapse of excitation spectrum, and a logarithmic entanglement entropy scaling on long cylinders, indicating a gapless QSL. Other quantities such as plaquette-plaquette correlation are also discussed.
