Strong magnetic frustration and anti-site disorder causing spin-glass behavior in honeycomb Li2RhO3

Abstract

With large spin-orbit coupling, the $t_{2g}^5$ electron configuration in $d$-metal oxides is prone to highly anisotropic exchange interactions and exotic magnetic properties. In $5d^5$ iridates, given the existing variety of crystal structures, the magnetic anisotropy can be tuned from antisymmetric to symmetric Kitaev-type, with interaction strengths that outsize the isotropic terms. By many-body electronic-structure calculations we here address the nature of the magnetic exchange and the intriguing spin-glass behavior of Li${}_2$RhO${}_3$, a $4d^5$ honeycomb oxide. For pristine crystals without Rh-Li site inversion, we predict a dimerized ground state as in the isostructural $5d^5$ iridate Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$, with triplet spin dimers effectively placed on a frustrated triangular lattice. With Rh-Li anti-site disorder, we explain the observed spin-glass phase as a superposition of different, nearly degenerate symmetry-broken configurations.

10 pages

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Cited by in corpus (20)

• Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism
• Spin-orbit excitation energies, anisotropic exchange, and magnetic phases of honeycomb RuCl3
• Classical spin liquid instability driven by off-diagonal exchange in strong spin-orbit magnets
• Beyond Kitaev physics in strong spin-orbit coupled magnets
• Quantum spin liquid at finite temperature: proximate dynamics and persistent typicality
• Local Magnetism and Spin Dynamics of the Frustrated Honeycomb Rhodate Li2RhO3
• Magnetic field-induced evolution of intertwined orders in the Kitaev magnet $\beta$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Scanning tunneling spectroscopy of Majorana zero modes in a Kitaev spin liquid
• Pressure-induced formation of rhodium zigzag chains in the honeycomb rhodate Li${}_2$RhO${}_3$
• NaRuO${}_2$: Kitaev-Heisenberg exchange in triangular-lattice setting
• First demonstration of tuning between the Kitaev and Ising limits in a honeycomb lattice
• Superexchange interactions between spin-orbit-coupled $j\approx 1/2$ ions in oxides with face-sharing ligand octahedra
• Kitaev Interactions Through an Extended Superexchange Pathway in the jeff = 1/2 Ru3+ Honeycomb Magnet, RuP3SiO11
• Magnetic Frustration in a Zeolite
• Pressure tuning of competing interactions on a honeycomb lattice
• The nature of low-temperature spin-freezing in frustrated Kitaev magnets
• Frustration-driven unconventional magnetism in the Mn${}^{2+}$ ($S=\frac{5}{2}$) based two-dimensional triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Ba${}_3$MnTa${}_2$O${}_9$
• Pressure-dependent magnetism of the Kitaev candidate Li${}_2$RhO${}_3$
• Cluster Spin Glass State in Ba${}_3$Sb${}_{1+x}$Co${}_{2-x}$O${}_{9-\delta }$: Cation Disorder and Mixed-Valence Co Dimers
• Signatures of a Majorana-Fermi surface in the Kitaev magnet Ag${}_3$LiIr${}_2$O${}_6$