2134/34332
Satoshi Nishimoto
Satoshi
Nishimoto
Vamshi M. Katukuri
Vamshi M.
Katukuri
Viktor Yushankhai
Viktor
Yushankhai
Hermann Stoll
Hermann
Stoll
Ulrich K. Roessler
Ulrich K.
Roessler
Liviu Hozoi
Liviu
Hozoi
Ioannis Rousochatzakis
Ioannis
Rousochatzakis
Jeroen van den Brink
Jeroen
van den Brink
Strongly frustrated triangular spin lattice emerging from triplet dimer formation in honeycomb Li2IrO3
Loughborough University
2018
untagged
Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified
2018-08-06 15:49:07
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Strongly_frustrated_triangular_spin_lattice_emerging_from_triplet_dimer_formation_in_honeycomb_Li2IrO3/9409094
Iridium oxides with a honeycomb lattice have been identified as platforms for the much anticipated Kitaev topological spin liquid: the spin-orbit entangled states of Ir4+in principle generate precisely the required type of anisotropic exchange. However, other magnetic couplings can drive the system away from the spin-liquid phase. With this in mind, here we disentangle the different magnetic interactions in Li2IrO3, a honeycomb iridate with two crystallographically inequivalent sets of adjacent Ir sites. Our ab initio many-body calculations show that, while both Heisenberg and Kitaev nearest-neighbour couplings are present, on one set of Ir-Ir bonds the former dominates, resulting in the formation of spin-triplet dimers. The triplet dimers frame a strongly frustrated triangular lattice and by exact cluster diagonalization we show that they remain protected in a wide region of the phase diagram.