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Possible quantum paraelectric state in Kitaev spin liquid candidate H3LiIr2O6

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Abstract

A new quantum spin liquid (QSL) candidate material H3LiIr2O6 was synthesized recently and was found not to show any magnetic order or phase transition down to low temperatures. In this work, we study the quantum dynamics of the hydrogen ions, i.e., protons, in this material by combining first-principles calculations and theoretical analysis. We show that each proton and its adjacent oxygen ions form an electric dipole. The dipole interactions and the proton tunneling are captured by a transverse-field Ising model with a quantum disordered paraelectric ground state. The dipole excitations have an energy gap Δd ≃ 60 meV, and can be probed by the infrared optical spectroscopy and the dielectric response. We argue that the electric dipole fluctuations renormalize the magnetic interactions in H3LiIr2O6 and lead to a Kitaev QSL state.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Shuai Wang & Fa Wang

  2. Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences and CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Long Zhang

  3. Physical Science Laboratory, Huairou National Comprehensive Science Center, Beijing, 101400, China

    Long Zhang

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China

    Fa Wang

Authors
  1. Shuai Wang
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  2. Long Zhang
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  3. Fa Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Long Zhang or Fa Wang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2014CB920902), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA0302904, and 2018YFA0305800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11804337), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB28000000), and the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (Grant No. Z181100004218001). We are grateful to inspiring discussions with XingYe Lu and WeiQiang Yu. The numerical simulations were performed on Tianhe-I Supercomputer Systerm in Tianjin and on Tianhe-II Supercomputer System in Guangzhou.

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The supporting information is available online at phys.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Wang, S., Zhang, L. & Wang, F. Possible quantum paraelectric state in Kitaev spin liquid candidate H3LiIr2O6. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 63, 117411 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-020-1569-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-020-1569-9

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