Quantum spin liquid emerging in two-dimensional correlated Dirac fermions

Z. Y. Meng (), T. C. Lang, S. Wessel, F. F. Assaad and A. Muramatsu
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Z. Y. Meng: Institut für Theoretische Physik III, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
T. C. Lang: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
S. Wessel: Institut für Theoretische Physik III, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
F. F. Assaad: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
A. Muramatsu: Institut für Theoretische Physik III, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany

Nature, 2010, vol. 464, issue 7290, 847-851

Abstract: Abstract At sufficiently low temperatures, condensed-matter systems tend to develop order. A notable exception to this behaviour is the case of quantum spin liquids, in which quantum fluctuations prevent a transition to an ordered state down to the lowest temperatures. There have now been tentative observations of such states in some two-dimensional organic compounds, yet quantum spin liquids remain elusive in microscopic two-dimensional models that are relevant to experiments. Here we show, by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of correlated fermions on a honeycomb lattice (a structure realized in, for example, graphene), that a quantum spin liquid emerges between the state described by massless Dirac fermions and an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. This unexpected quantum-disordered state is found to be a short-range resonating valence-bond liquid, akin to the one proposed for high-temperature superconductors: the possibility of unconventional superconductivity through doping therefore arises in our system. We foresee the experimental realization of this model system using ultra-cold atoms, or group IV elements arranged in honeycomb lattices.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08942

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