Theory of Raman response in three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids: application to $\beta -$ and $\gamma -$Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$ compounds

Abstract

We calculate the Raman response for the Kitaev spin model on the $\mathcal{H}$-$0$, $\mathcal{H}$-$1$, and $\mathcal{H}$-$\infty$ harmonic honeycomb lattices. We identify several quantitative features in the Raman spectrum that are characteristic of the spin liquid phase. Unlike the dynamical structure factor, which probes both the Majorana spinons and flux excitations that emerge from spin fractionalization, the Raman spectrum in the Kitaev models directly probes a density of states of pairs of fractional, dispersing Majorana spinons. As a consequence, the Raman spectrum in all these models is gapless for sufficiently isotropic couplings, with a low-energy power law that results from the Fermi lines (or points) of the dispersing Majorana spinons. We show that the polarization dependence of the Raman spectrum contains crucial information about the symmetry of the ground state. We also discuss to what extent the features of the Raman response that we find reflect generic properties of the spin liquid phase, and comment on their possible relevance to $\alpha -$, $\beta -$ and $\gamma -$Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$ compounds.

19 pages, 10 figures. VERSION 2: Corrected Figure 5 and fixed inconsistencies between A and B chain-labelings. Also- a few typos and two new refs

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• Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism
• A Field Guide to Spin Liquids
• Physics of the Kitaev model: fractionalization, dynamical correlations, and material connections
• Fermionic response from fractionalization in an insulating two-dimensional magnet
• Recent progress on correlated electron systems with strong spin-orbit coupling
• Raman spectroscopic signature of fractionalized excitations in the harmonic-honeycomb iridates $\beta$- and $\gamma$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Breakdown of magnetic order in the pressurized Kitaev iridate $\beta$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Quantum spin liquid at finite temperature: proximate dynamics and persistent typicality
• Dynamics of a quantum spin liquid beyond integrability $-$ the Kitaev-Heisenberg-$\Gamma$ model in an augmented parton mean-field theory
• Pressure-tuning of bond-directional exchange interactions and magnetic frustration in hyperhoneycomb iridate $\beta$-$\mathrm{L}{\mathrm{i}}_2\mathrm{Ir}{\mathrm{O}}_3$
• Crystalline Kitaev spin liquids
• Revealing frustrated local moment model for pressurized hyperhoneycomb iridate: paving a way toward quantum spin liquid
• Polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy of α-RuCl3 and evidence of room temperature two-dimensional magnetic scattering
• Resonant Raman scattering theory for Kitaev models and their Majorana fermion boundary modes
• Probing spinon nodal structures in three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids
• Neutron scattering signatures of the 3D hyper-honeycomb Kitaev quantum spin-liquid
• Observing spin fractionalization in the Kitaev spin liquid via temperature evolution of indirect resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
• Kitaev magnetism through the prism of lithium iridate
• Kitaev Magnetism and Fractionalized Excitations in Double Perovskite Sm2ZnIrO6
• Probing signatures of fractionalization in candidate quantum spin liquid Cu2IrO3 via anomalous Raman scattering
• Temperature evolution of the phonon dynamics in the Kitaev spin liquid
• Dynamics of a two-dimensional quantum spin-orbital liquid: spectroscopic signatures of fermionic magnons
• Further insights into the thermodynamics of the Kitaev honeycomb model
• Spin-Liquid--to--Spin-Liquid Transition in Kitaev Magnets Driven by Fractionalization
• Majorana Landau Level Raman Spectroscopy
• Magnetoelectric generation of a Majorana-Fermi surface in Kitaev's honeycomb model
• Footprints of the Kitaev spin liquid in the Fano lineshapes of the Raman active optical phonons
• Anisotropy as a diagnostic test for distinct tensor network wavefunctions of integer and half-integer spin Kitaev quantum spin liquids
• Fingerprints of quantum spin ice in Raman scattering
• Free coherent spinons in quantum square ice
• Raman scattering in correlated thin films as a probe of chargeless surface states
• Nonlinear response of the Kitaev honeycomb lattice model in a weak magnetic field
• Phonon Dynamics in the Generalized Kitaev Spin Liquid
• Fluctuating Fractionalized Spins in Quasi Two-dimensional Magnetic V0.85PS3
• Signatures of non-Loudon-Fleury Raman scattering in the Kitaev magnet $\beta$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Raman Scattering Polarization and Single Spinon Identification in Two-Dimensional Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids
• Projective-symmetry-group analysis of inelastic light scattering in Kitaev spin balls
• Probing emergent QED in quantum spin ice via Raman scattering of phonons: shallow inelastic scattering and pair production
• Dynamic structure factor of the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model in large magnetic fields
• Sound attenuation in the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev spin liquid
• Polarized Raman Response of Two-Dimensional Quasiperiodic Antiferromagnets: Configuration-Interaction versus Green's Function Approaches
• Signatures of fractionalization in the optical phonons of hyperhoneycomb Kitaev magnet $\beta$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
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• Crystalline topological defects within response theory
• Non-Loudon-Fleury Raman scattering in spin-orbit coupled Mott insulators
• Non-Abelian statistics in light scattering processes across interacting Haldane chains