Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$
The layered honeycomb magnet α-Li2IrO3 has been theoretically proposed as a candidate to display unconventional magnetic behaviour associated with Kitaev interactions between spin-orbit entangled jeff = 1=2 magnetic moments on a honeycomb lattice. Here we report single crystal magnetic resonant x-ra...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal article |
| Publicado: |
American Physical Society
2016
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| _version_ | 1826284971042537472 |
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| author | Williams, S Johnson, R Freund, F Choi, S Jesche, A Kimchi, I Manni, S Bombardi, A Manuel, P Gegenwart, P Coldea, R |
| author_facet | Williams, S Johnson, R Freund, F Choi, S Jesche, A Kimchi, I Manni, S Bombardi, A Manuel, P Gegenwart, P Coldea, R |
| author_sort | Williams, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The layered honeycomb magnet α-Li2IrO3 has been theoretically proposed as a candidate to display unconventional magnetic behaviour associated with Kitaev interactions between spin-orbit entangled jeff = 1=2 magnetic moments on a honeycomb lattice. Here we report single crystal magnetic resonant x-ray diffraction combined with powder magnetic neutron diffraction to reveal an incommensurate magnetic order in the honeycomb layers with Ir magnetic moments counterrotating on nearest-neighbor sites. This unexpected type of magnetic structure for a honeycomb magnet cannot be explained by a spin Hamiltonian with dominant isotropic (Heisenberg) couplings. The magnetic structure shares many key features with the magnetic order in the structural polytypes β-and γ-Li2IrO3, understood theoretically to be stabilized by dominant Kitaev interactions between Ir moments located on the vertices of three-dimensional hyperhoneycomb and stripyhoneycomb lattices, respectively. Based on this analogy and a theoretical soft-spin analysis of magnetic ground states for candidate spin Hamiltonians, we propose that Kitaev interactions also dominate in α-Li2IrO3, indicative of universal Kitaev physics across all three members of the harmonic honeycomb family of Li2IrO3 polytypes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:21:51Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:90a1fa0e-9a3c-47cb-b6c1-e65de9ca42c2 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:21:51Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:90a1fa0e-9a3c-47cb-b6c1-e65de9ca42c22022-03-26T23:13:00ZIncommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:90a1fa0e-9a3c-47cb-b6c1-e65de9ca42c2Symplectic Elements at OxfordAmerican Physical Society2016Williams, SJohnson, RFreund, FChoi, SJesche, AKimchi, IManni, SBombardi, AManuel, PGegenwart, PColdea, RThe layered honeycomb magnet α-Li2IrO3 has been theoretically proposed as a candidate to display unconventional magnetic behaviour associated with Kitaev interactions between spin-orbit entangled jeff = 1=2 magnetic moments on a honeycomb lattice. Here we report single crystal magnetic resonant x-ray diffraction combined with powder magnetic neutron diffraction to reveal an incommensurate magnetic order in the honeycomb layers with Ir magnetic moments counterrotating on nearest-neighbor sites. This unexpected type of magnetic structure for a honeycomb magnet cannot be explained by a spin Hamiltonian with dominant isotropic (Heisenberg) couplings. The magnetic structure shares many key features with the magnetic order in the structural polytypes β-and γ-Li2IrO3, understood theoretically to be stabilized by dominant Kitaev interactions between Ir moments located on the vertices of three-dimensional hyperhoneycomb and stripyhoneycomb lattices, respectively. Based on this analogy and a theoretical soft-spin analysis of magnetic ground states for candidate spin Hamiltonians, we propose that Kitaev interactions also dominate in α-Li2IrO3, indicative of universal Kitaev physics across all three members of the harmonic honeycomb family of Li2IrO3 polytypes. |
| spellingShingle | Williams, S Johnson, R Freund, F Choi, S Jesche, A Kimchi, I Manni, S Bombardi, A Manuel, P Gegenwart, P Coldea, R Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ |
| title | Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ |
| title_full | Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ |
| title_fullStr | Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ |
| title_short | Incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb $α$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ |
| title_sort | incommensurate counterrotating magnetic order stabilized by kitaev interactions in the layered honeycomb α li 2 iro 3 |
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