A two-dimensional spin liquid in quantum kagome ice

Juan Carrasquilla (), Zhihao Hao and Roger G. Melko
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Juan Carrasquilla: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Zhihao Hao: University of Waterloo
Roger G. Melko: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Actively sought since the turn of the century, two-dimensional quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are exotic phases of matter where magnetic moments remain disordered even at zero temperature. Despite ongoing searches, QSLs remain elusive, due to a lack of concrete knowledge of the microscopic mechanisms that inhibit magnetic order in materials. Here we study a model for a broad class of frustrated magnetic rare-earth pyrochlore materials called quantum spin ices. When subject to an external magnetic field along the [111] crystallographic direction, the resulting interactions contain a mix of geometric frustration and quantum fluctuations in decoupled two-dimensional kagome planes. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we identify a set of interactions sufficient to promote a groundstate with no magnetic long-range order, and a gap to excitations, consistent with a Z2 spin liquid phase. This suggests an experimental procedure to search for two-dimensional QSLs within a class of pyrochlore quantum spin ice materials.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8421

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