Spiral order in the honeycomb iridate Li2IrO3

Abstract

The honeycomb iridates A2IrO3 (A=Na, Li) constitute promising candidate materials to realize the Heisenberg-Kitaev model (HKM) in nature, hosting unconventional magnetic as well as spin liquid phases. Recent experiments suggest, however, that Li2IrO3 exhibits a magnetically ordered state of incommensurate spiral type which has not been identified in the HKM. We show that these findings can be understood in the context of an extended Heisenberg-Kitaev scenario satisfying all tentative experimental evidence: (i) the maximum of the magnetic susceptibility is located inside the first Brillouin zone, (ii) the Curie-Weiss temperature is negative relating to dominant antiferromagnetic fluctuations, and (iii) significant second-neighbor spin-exchange is involved.

5 pages, 5 figures, selected as an Editors' suggestion

References in corpus (8)

• Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models
• On the Origin of Zigzag Magnetic Order in Iridium Oxide Na2IrO3
• Quantum spin Hall effect in a transition metal oxide Na2IrO3
• Long range magnetic ordering in Na${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Crystal field splitting and correlation effect on the electronic structure of A2IrO3
• Na2IrO3 as a spin-orbit-assisted antiferromagnetic insulator with a 340 meV gap
• Magnetic ordering phenomena of interacting quantum spin Hall models
• Effect of nonmagnetic dilution in honeycomb lattice iridates Na${}_2$IrO${}_3$ and Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$

Cited by in corpus (22)

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• Hidden symmetries of the extended Kitaev-Heisenberg model: Implications for honeycomb lattice iridates A2IrO3
• Physical realization of a quantum spin liquid based on a novel frustration mechanism
• Importance of anisotropic exchange interactions in honeycomb iridates. Minimal model for zigzag antiferromagnetic order in Na${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Spin-orbit physics of j=1/2 Mott insulators on the triangular lattice
• Physical states and finite-size effects in Kitaev's honeycomb model: Bond disorder, spin excitations, and NMR lineshape
• Theory of Magnetic Phase Diagrams in Hyperhoneycomb and Harmonic-honeycomb Iridates
• Unified theory of spiral magnetism in the harmonic-honeycomb iridates α, β, γ Li2IrO3
• Lattice-Tuned Magnetism of Ru4+(4d4) Ions in Single-Crystals of the Layered Honeycomb Ruthenates: Li2RuO3 and Na2RuO3
• Competing magnetic orders and spin liquids in two- and three-dimensional kagome systems: A pseudo-fermion functional renormalization group perspective
• Intertwined nematic orders in a frustrated ferromagnet
• Functional-renormalization-group analysis of Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya and Heisenberg spin interactions on the kagome lattice
• Density-Matrix Renormalization Group Study of Extended Kitaev-Heisenberg Model
• Analysis of the optical conductivity for A2IrO3 (A = Na, Li) from first principles
• Ground-state phase diagram of spin-$S$ Kitaev-Heisenberg models
• Electronic excitations and structure of Li2IrO3 thin films grown on ZrO${}_2$:Y (001) substrates
• Electronic excitations in $\gamma$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Ground-State Phase Diagram of the Kitaev-Heisenberg Model on a Three-dimensional Hyperhoneycomb Lattice
• Bound states of fractionalized excitations in a modulated Kitaev spin liquid
• Minimal models of $\alpha$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$: On the range of the interactions, ground state properties, and magnetization processes
• Monoclinic distortion in hyperhoneycomb Kitaev material $\beta$-ZnIrO${}_3$ revealed by improved sample quality