Pressure tuning of competing interactions on a honeycomb lattice

Piyush Sakrikar, Bin Shen, Eduardo H. T. Poldi, Faranak Bahrami, Xiaodong Hu, Eric M. Kenney, Qiaochu Wang, Kyle W. Fruhling, Chennan Wang, Ritu Gupta, Rustem Khasanov, Hubertus Luetkens, Stuart A. Calder, Adam A. Aczel, Gilberto Fabbris, Russell J. Hemley, Kemp W. Plumb, Ying Ran, Philipp Gegenwart, Alexander A. Tsirlin, Daniel Haskel, Michael J. Graf and Fazel Tafti ()
Additional contact information
Piyush Sakrikar: Boston College
Bin Shen: University of Augsburg
Eduardo H. T. Poldi: University of Illinois Chicago
Faranak Bahrami: Boston College
Xiaodong Hu: Boston College
Eric M. Kenney: Boston College
Qiaochu Wang: Brown University
Kyle W. Fruhling: Boston College
Chennan Wang: PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences CNM
Ritu Gupta: PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences CNM
Rustem Khasanov: PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences CNM
Hubertus Luetkens: PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences CNM
Stuart A. Calder: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Adam A. Aczel: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Gilberto Fabbris: Argonne National Laboratory
Russell J. Hemley: University of Illinois Chicago
Kemp W. Plumb: Brown University
Ying Ran: Boston College
Philipp Gegenwart: University of Augsburg
Alexander A. Tsirlin: University of Augsburg
Daniel Haskel: Argonne National Laboratory
Michael J. Graf: Boston College
Fazel Tafti: Boston College

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Exchange interactions are mediated via orbital overlaps across chemical bonds. Thus, modifying the bond angles by physical pressure or strain can tune the relative strength of competing interactions. Here we present a remarkable case of such tuning between the Heisenberg (J) and Kitaev (K) exchange, which respectively establish magnetically ordered and spin liquid phases on a honeycomb lattice. We observe a rapid suppression of the Néel temperature (TN) with pressure in Ag3LiRh2O6, a spin-1/2 honeycomb lattice with both J and K couplings. Using a combined analysis of x-ray data and first-principles calculations, we find that pressure modifies the bond angles in a way that increases the ∣K/J∣ ratio and thereby suppresses TN. Consistent with this picture, we observe a spontaneous onset of muon spin relaxation (μSR) oscillations below TN at low pressure, whereas in the high pressure phase, oscillations appear only when T

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59897-7

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