Topological phase diagrams of in-plane field polarized Kitaev magnets

Abstract

While the existence of a magnetic field induced quantum spin liquid in Kitaev magnets remains under debate, its topological properties often extend to proximal phases where they can lead to unusual behaviors of both fundamental and applied interests. Subjecting a generic nearest neighbor spin model of Kitaev magnets to a sufficiently strong in-plane magnetic field, we study the resulting polarized phase and the associated magnon excitations. In contrast to the case of an out-of-plane magnetic field where the magnon band topology is enforced by symmetry, we find that it is possible for topologically trivial and nontrivial parameter regimes to coexist under in-plane magnetic fields. We map out the topological phase diagrams of the magnon bands, revealing a rich pattern of variation of the Chern number over the parameter space and the field angle. We further compute the magnon thermal Hall conductivity as a weighted summation of Berry curvatures, and discuss experimental implications of our results to planar thermal Hall effects in Kitaev magnets.

7+12 pages, 4+5 figures, 1+0 table; published version

References in corpus (30)

• Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models
• $\alpha$-RuCl3: a Spin-Orbit Assisted Mott Insulator on a Honeycomb Lattice
• Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism
• Magnetic order in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$: a honeycomb lattice quantum magnet with strong spin-orbit coupling
• Theoretical prediction of rotating magnon wavepacket in ferromagnets
• Successive magnetic phase transitions in $\mathbf{\alpha }$-RuCl${}_3$: XY-like frustrated magnet on the honeycomb lattice
• Magnetic Topological Quantum Chemistry
• Pseudospin exchange interactions in d^7 cobalt compounds: Possible realization of the Kitaev model
• Spontaneous Magnon Decays
• Spin-wave excitations evidencing the Kitaev interaction in single crystalline $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Kitaev-Heisenberg Hamiltonian for High-Spin $d^7$ Mott Insulators
• Robustness of the thermal Hall effect close to half-quantization in a field-induced spin liquid state
• The planar thermal Hall conductivity in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3
• Kitaev interactions in the Co honeycomb antiferromagnets Na${}_3$Co${}_2$SbO${}_6$ and Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Magnetic anisotropy in the Kitaev model systems Na2IrO3 and RuCl3
• Weak-field induced nonmagnetic state in a Co-based honeycomb
• Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid
• Evidence of a Phonon Hall Effect in the Kitaev Spin Liquid Candidate $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Sign structure of thermal Hall conductivity for in-plane-field polarized Kitaev magnets
• Topological magnons for thermal Hall transport in frustrated magnets with bond-dependent interactions
• Magnetism of Kitaev spin-liquid candidate material RuBr${}_3$
• Giant Phonon Anomalies in the Proximate Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Planar Thermal Hall Effects in Kitaev Spin Liquid Candidate Na2Co2TeO6
• Easy-plane anisotropic-exchange magnets on a honeycomb lattice: quantum effects and dealing with them
• Thermal Hall Effect in the Kitaev-Heisenberg System with Spin-Phonon Coupling
• Unquantized thermal Hall effect in quantum spin liquids with spinon Fermi surfaces
• Ground state selection by magnon interactions in the fcc antiferromagnet
• Magnon interactions in the quantum paramagnetic phase of CoNb${}_2$O${}_6$
• Magnetic vortex liquid and anomalous thermal Hall conductivity in frustrated magnets with bond-dependent interactions
• Spin excitation continuum to topological magnon crossover and thermal Hall conductivity in Kitaev magnets

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Sign Changes in Heat, Spin, and Orbital Magnon Transport Coefficients in Kitaev Ferromagnets
• High Chern numbers and topological flat bands in high-field polarized Kitaev magnets on the star lattice
• Successive topological phase transitions in two distinct spin-flop phases on the honeycomb lattice