Spin Liquid versus Spin Orbit Coupling on the Triangular Lattice

In this paper, we explore the relationship between strong spin-orbit coupling and spin liquid physics. We study a very general model on the triangular lattice where spin-orbit coupling leads to the presence of highly anisotropic interactions. We use variational Monte Carlo to study both $U(1)$ qu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jason Iaconis, Chunxiao Liu, Gábor B. Halász, Leon Balents
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SciPost 2018-01-01
Series:SciPost Physics
Online Access:https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.4.1.003
Description
Summary:In this paper, we explore the relationship between strong spin-orbit coupling and spin liquid physics. We study a very general model on the triangular lattice where spin-orbit coupling leads to the presence of highly anisotropic interactions. We use variational Monte Carlo to study both $U(1)$ quantum spin liquid states and ordered ones, via the Gutzwiller projected fermion construction. We thereby obtain the ground state phase diagram in this phase space. We furthermore consider effects beyond the Gutzwiller wavefunctions for the spinon Fermi surface quantum spin liquid, which are of particular importance when spin-orbit coupling is present.
ISSN:2542-4653