Motivated by recent discovery of correlated insulating and superconducting behavior in twisted bilayer graphene, we revisit graphene's honeycomb lattice doped close to the van Hove singularity, using the truncated unity functional renormalization group approach. We consider an extended Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice including on-site and nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsions, and nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic exchange and pair hopping interactions. By varying the strength of the nearest-neighbor exchange coupling and Coulomb repulsion as free parameters, we present rich ground-state phase diagrams which contain the spin-triplet $f$-wave and spin-singlet chiral $d$-wave superconducting phases, the commensurate and incommensurate spin- and charge-density-wave phases, and the ferromagnetic phase. In the absence of the exchange coupling and for small value of the nearest-neighbor repulsion, the four-sublattice spin-density-wave phase is generated right around the van Hove filling, while the chiral $d$-wave superconductivity emerges slightly away from it. Surprisingly, the chiral $d$-wave superconductivity is strongly suppressed by weak nearest-neighbor exchange coupling in our calculations. We argue that this suppression might be one of the reasons why the chiral superconductivity proposed for doped graphene has not yet been observed experimentally.
Proposals for superconductivity emerging from correlated electrons in the doped Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice range from chiral $d+id$ singlet to $p+ip$ triplet pairing, depending on the considered range of doping and interaction strength, as well as the approach used to analyze the pairing instabilities. Here, we consider these scenarios using large-scale dynamic cluster approximation (DCA) calculations to examine the evolution in the leading pairing symmetry from weak to intermediate coupling strength. These calculations focus on doping levels around the van Hove singularity (VHS) a…
Superconductivity and competing orders in honeycomb $t$-$J$ model: interplay of lattice geometry and next-nearest-neighbor hopping
School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University（上海科技大学物理科学与技术学院）；Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University（斯坦福材料能源科学研究所，SLAC国家加速器实验室和斯坦福大学）
We report magnetometry data obtained on twin-free single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6, which is considered a candidate material for realizing the Kitaev honeycomb model for quantum spin liquids. Contrary to a common belief that such materials can be modeled with the symmetries of an ideal honeycomb lattice, our data reveal a pronounced two-fold symmetry and in-plane anisotropy of over 200%, despite the honeycomb layer's tiny orthorhombic distortion of less than 0.2%. We further use magnetic neutron diffraction to elucidate a rich variety of field-induced phases observed in the magnetometry. These ph…
We study the spin-1 honeycomb lattice magnets with frustrated exchange interactions. The proposed microscopic spin model contains first and second neighbor Heisenberg interactions as well as the single-ion anisotropy. We establish a rich phase diagram that includes a featureless quantum paramagnet and various spin spiral states induced by the mechanism of order by quantum disorder. Although the quantum paramagnet is dubbed featureless, it is shown that, the magnetic excitations develop a contour degeneracy in the reciprocal space at the band minima. These contour degenerate excitations are res…
When spin-orbit-entangled $d$-electrons reside on a honeycomb lattice, rich quantum states are anticipated to emerge, as exemplified by the $d^5$ Kitaev materials. Distinct yet equally intriguing physics may be realized with a $d$-electron count other than $d^5$. We found that the layered ruthenate Ag$_3$LiRu$_2$O$_6$ with $d^4$ Ru$^{4+}$ ions at ambient pressure forms a honeycomb lattice of spin-orbit-entangled singlets, which is a playground for frustrated excitonic magnetism. Under pressure, the singlet state does not develop the expected excitonic magnetism but experiences two successive t…
Due to the interaction between topological defects of an order parameter and underlying fermions, the defects can possess induced fermion numbers, leading to several exotic phenomena of fundamental importance to both condensed matter and high energy physics. One of the intriguing outcome of induced fermion number is the presence of fluctuating competing orders inside the core of topological defect. In this regard, the interaction between fermions and skyrmion excitations of antiferromagnetic phase can have important consequence for understanding the global phase diagrams of many condensed matt…
We investigate the quantum many-body instabilities for electrons on the honeycomb lattice at half-filling with extended interactions, motivated by a description of graphene and related materials. We employ a recently developed fermionic functional Renormalization Group scheme which allows for highly resolved calculations of wavevector dependences in the low-energy effective interactions. We encounter the expected anti-ferromagnetic spin density wave for a dominant on-site repulsion between electrons, and charge order with different modulations for dominant pure $n$-th nearest neighbor repulsiv…
We investigate the competition between the spin-orbit interaction of itinerant electrons and their Kondo coupling with local moments densely distributed on the honeycomb lattice. We find that the model at half-filling displays a quantum phase transition between topological and Kondo insulators at a nonzero Kondo coupling. In the Kondo-screened case, tuning the electron concentration can lead to a new topological insulator phase. The results suggest that the heavy-fermion phase diagram contains a new regime with a competition among topological, Kondo-coherent and magnetic states, and that the r…
Conflicting predictions have been made for the ground state of the SU(3) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice: Tensor network simulations found a plaquette order [Zhao et al, Phys. Rev. B 85, 134416 (2012)], where singlets are formed on hexagons, while linear flavor-wave theory (LFWT) suggested a dimerized, color ordered state [Lee and Yang, Phys. Rev. B 85, 100402 (2012)]. In this work we show that the former state is the true ground state by a systematic study with infinite projected-entangled pair states (iPEPS), for which the accuracy can be systematically controlled by the so-called …
The Kitaev model is a rare example of an analytically solvable and physically instantiable Hamiltonian yielding a topological quantum spin liquid ground state. Here we report signatures of Kitaev spin liquid physics in the honeycomb magnet $Li_3Co_2SbO_6$, built of high-spin $\it{d^7}$ ($Co^{2+}$) ions, in contrast to the more typical low-spin $\it{d^5}$ electron configurations in the presence of large spin-orbit coupling. Neutron powder diffraction measurements, heat capacity, and magnetization studies support the development of a long-range antiferromagnetic order space group of $\it{C_C}2/\…
The quantum phase transition, scaling behaviors, and thermodynamics in the spin-1/2 quantum Heisenberg model with antiferromagnetic coupling $J>0$ in armchair direction and ferromagnetic interaction $J'<0$ in zigzag direction on a honeycomb lattice are systematically studied using the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo method. By calculating the Binder ratio $Q_{2}$ and spin stiffness $ρ$ in two directions for various coupling ratio $α=J'/J$ under different lattice sizes, we found that a quantum phase transition from the dimerized phase to the stripe phase occurs at the quantum critical point…
Using a hybrid method based on fermionic diagonalization and classical Monte Carlo, we investigate the interplay between itinerant and localized spins, with competing double- and super-exchange interactions, on a honeycomb lattice. For moderate superexchange, a geometrically frustrated triangular lattice of hexagons forms spontaneously. For slightly larger superexchange a dimerized groundstate is stable that has macroscopic degeneracy. The presence of these states on a non-frustrated honeycomb lattice highlights a novel phenomenon in this itinerant electron system: emergent geometrical frustra…
The honeycomb-lattice ruthenate Li$_2$RuO$_3$ is made heavily Li-deficient by chemical oxidation by iodine. The delithiation triggers a different phase Li$_{2-x}$RuO$_3$, the "D-phase", with superlattice. For the first time we disclose the magnetic and structural properties of the D-phase in the dimer-solid state. The low temperature magnetic susceptibility and the bond lengths indicate a bonding configuration consisting of both Ru$^{4+}$-Ru$^{4+}$ and Ru$^{5+}$-Ru$^{5+}$ dimers.
Heavy fermion systems represent a prototypical setting to study magnetic quantum phase transitions. A particular focus has been on the physics of Kondo destruction, which captures quantum criticality beyond the Landau framework of order-parameter fluctuations. In this context, we study the spin one-half Kondo-Heisenberg model on a honeycomb lattice at half filling. The problem is approached from the Kondo destroyed, antiferromagnetically ordered insulating phase. We describe the local moments in terms of a coarse grained quantum non-linear sigma model, and show that the skyrmion defects of the…
When an electronic system has strong correlations and a large spin-orbit interaction, it often exhibits a plethora of mutually competing quantum phases. How a particular quantum ground state is selected out of several possibilities is a very interesting question. However, equally fascinating is how such a quantum entangled state breaks up due to perturbation. This important question has relevance in very diverse fields of science from strongly correlated electron physics to quantum information. Here we report that a quantum entangled dimerized state or valence bond crystal (VBC) phase of Li2Ru…
We investigate the ground-state phase diagram of an anisotropic Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice with competing interactions. We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations, as well as linear spin-wave and Ising series expansions, to determine the phase boundaries of the ordered magnetic phases. We find a region without any classical order in the vicinity of a highly frustrated point. Higher-order correlation functions in this region give no signal for long-range valence-bond order. The low-energy spectrum is derived via exact diagonalization to check for topological order on small-size perio…
Quantum spin liquids are materials that feature quantum entangled spin correlations and avoid magnetic long-range order at T = 0 K. Particularly interesting are two-dimensional honeycomb spin lattices where a plethora of exotic quantum spin liquids have been predicted. Here, we experimentally study an effective S=1/2 Heisenberg honeycomb lattice with competing nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions. We demonstrate that YbBr$_3$ avoids order down to at least T=100 mK and features a dynamic spin-spin correlation function with broad continuum scattering typical of quantum spin liquids nea…
One main theme in current condensed matter physics is the search of quantum spin liquid (QSL), an exotic magnetic state with strongly-fluctuating and highly-entangled spins down to zero temperature without static order. However, there is no consensus on the existence of a QSL ground state in any real material so far. The disorders and competing exchange interactions may prevent the formation of an ideal QSL state on frustrated spin lattices. Here we report systematic heat transport measurements on a honeycomb-lattice compound BaCo2(AsO4)2, which manifests magnetic order in zero field. In a nar…
The emergence of the Haldane Chern insulator state due to strong short range repulsive interactions in the half-filled fermionic spinless honeycomb lattice model has been proposed and challenged with different methods and yet it still remains controversial. In this work we revisit the problem using the infinite density matrix renormalization group method and report numerical evidence supporting i) the absence of the Chern insulator state, ii) two previously unnoticed charge ordered phases and iii) the existence and stability of all the non-topological competing orders that were found previousl…
Spinless fermions on the honeycomb lattice with repulsive nearest-neighbor interactions are known to harbour a quantum critical point at half-filling, with critical behaviour in the Gross-Neveu (chiral Ising) universality class. The critical interaction strength separates a weak-coupling semimetallic regime from a commensurate charge-density-wave phase. The phase diagram of this basic model of correlated fermions on the honeycomb lattice beyond half-filling is, however, less well established. Here, we perform an analysis of its many-body instabilities using the functional renormalization group…
Using the low-energy effective field theory for hole-doped antiferromagnets on the honeycomb lattice, we study the localization of holes on Skyrmions, as a potential mechanism for the preformation of Cooper pairs. In contrast to the square lattice case, for the standard radial profile of the Skyrmion on the honeycomb lattice, only holes residing in one of the two hole pockets can get localized. This differs qualitatively from hole pairs bound by magnon exchange, which is most attractive between holes residing in different momentum space pockets. On the honeycomb lattice, magnon exchange unambi…
We study a spin-1/2 SU(2) model on the honeycomb lattice with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange $J$ that favors Néel order, and competing 6-spin interactions $Q$ which favor a valence bond solid (VBS) state in which the bond-energies order at the "columnar" wavevector ${\mathbf K} = (2π/3,-2π/3)$. We present quantum Monte-Carlo evidence for a direct continuous quantum phase transition between Néel and VBS states, with exponents and logarithmic violations of scaling consistent with those at analogous deconfined critical points on the square lattice. Although this strongly suggests a d…
BaFe2(PO4)2 is an unusual Ising insulating ferromagnet based on the Fe$^{2+}$ spin $S$ = 2 ion, the susceptibility of which suggests a large orbital component to the Fe local moment. We apply density functional theory based methods to obtain a microscopic picture of the competing interactions and the critical role of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in this honeycomb lattice system. The low-temperature ferromagnetic phase displays a half-semimetallic Dirac point pinning the Fermi level and preventing gap opening before consideration of SOC, presenting a case in which correlation effects modeled by a …
We theoretically propose possible magnetism-induced negative thermal expansion in honeycomb-lattice antiferromagnets with edge-sharing networks of $MX_6$ octahedra where $M$ and $X$ are transition-metal and ligand ions, respectively. In this crystal structure, the nearest-neighbor exchange interaction is composed of two competing contributions, i.e., the antiferromagnetic contribution from a direct 180$^\circ$ $M$-$M$ bond and the ferromagnetic contribution from 90$^\circ$ $M$-$X$-$M$ bonds, amplitudes of which have different bond-length dependence. Numerical analysis of the spin-lattice model…
Using a weak-coupling renormalization group formalism, we study competing ordered phases for repulsively interacting fermions on the bilayer honeycomb lattice away from half-filling, which is realized experimentally as doped bilayer graphene. As electrons are added to the system, excitonic order is suppressed, and unconventional superconductivity appears generically in its place. In general it is found that the maximum critical temperature for superconductivity appears directly adjacent to the dome of particle-hole order, illustrating the importance of fluctuations in these channels for the fo…
We study the phase diagram of an effective model of competing nematic and antiferromagnetic orders of interacting electrons on the Bernal-stacked honeycomb bilayer, as relevant for bilayer graphene. In the noninteracting limit, the model features a semimetallic ground state with quadratic band touching points at the Fermi level. Taking the effects of short-range interactions into account, we demonstrate the existence of an extended region in the mean-field phase diagram characterized by coexisting nematic and antiferromagnetic orders. By means of a renormalization group approach, we reveal tha…
Motivated by the growing interest in the novel quantum phases in materials with strong electron correlations and spin-orbit coupling, we study the interplay between the spin-orbit coupling, Kondo interaction, and magnetic frustration of a Kondo lattice model on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. We calculate the renormalized electronic structure and correlation functions at the saddle point based on a fermionic representation of the spin operators. We find a global phase diagram of the model at half-filling, which contains a variety of phases due to the competing interactions. In addition to…
We study a generalized honeycomb lattice spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic 2-spin exchange, and competing 4-spin interactions which serve to stabilize a staggered dimer state which breaks lattice rotational symmetry. Using a combination of quantum Monte Carlo numerics, spin wave theory, and bond operator theory, we show that this model undergoes a strong first-order transition between a Neel state and a staggered dimer state upon increasing the strength of the 4-spin interactions. We attribute the strong first order character of this transition to the spinless n…
The frustrated XY model on the honeycomb lattice has drawn lots of attentions because of the potential emergence of chiral spin liquid (CSL) with the increasing of frustrations or competing interactions. In this work, we study the extended spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XY model with nearest-neighbor ($J_1$), and next-nearest-neighbor ($J_2$) interactions in the presence of a three-spins chiral ($J_χ$) term using density matrix renormalization group methods. We obtain a quantum phase diagram with both conventionally ordered and topologically ordered phases. In particular, the long-sought Kalmeyer-Laughlin…
Single-crystal x-ray diffraction studies with synchrotron radiation on the honeycomb iridate $α$-Li$_{2}$IrO$_{3}$ reveal a pressure-induced structural phase transition with symmetry lowering from monoclinic to triclinic at a critical pressure of $P_{c}$ = 3.8 GPa. According to the evolution of the lattice parameters with pressure, the transition mainly affects the $ab$ plane and thereby the Ir hexagon network, leading to the formation of Ir--Ir dimers. These observations are independently predicted and corroborated by our \textit{ab initio} density functional theory calculations where we find…
Theoretical studies have predicted the existence of topological magnons in honeycomb compounds with zig-zag antiferromagnetic (AFM) order. Here we report the discovery of zig-zag AFM order in the layered and non-centrosymmetric honeycomb nickelate Ni$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ through a combination of magnetization, specific heat, x-ray and neutron diffraction and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements. It is the first example of such order in an integer-spin non-centrosymmetric structure ($P$$_6$3$mc$). Further, each of the two distinct sites of the bipartite honeycomb lattice has a unique crystal …
The pure Kitaev honeycomb model harbors a quantum spin liquid in zero magnetic fields, while applying finite magnetic fields induces a topological spin liquid with non-Abelian anyonic excitations. This latter phase has been much sought after in Kitaev candidate materials, such as $α$-RuCl$_3$. Currently, two competing scenarios exist for the intermediate field phase of this compound ($B=7-10$ T), based on experimental as well as theoretical results: (i) conventional multiparticle magnetic excitations of integer quantum number vs. (ii) Majorana fermionic excitations of possibly non-Abelian natu…
Magnetic phases in the $J_{1}$-$J_{2}$ antiferromagnetic XY model on the honeycomb lattice
Akhiezer Institute for Theoretical Physics, NSC KIPT（阿基谢尔理论物理研究所）；Haiqu, Inc.（海奎公司）；Education and Research Institute “School of Physics and Technology”, Karazin Kharkiv National University（哈尔科夫国立大学物理与技术教育研究所）
We investigated the static and dynamic magnetic properties of the polar ferrimagnet Mn$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ in three magnetically ordered phases via magnetization, magnetic torque, and THz absorption spectroscopy measurements. The observed magnetic field dependence of the spin-wave resonances, including Brillouin zone-center and zone-boundary excitations, magnetization, and torque, are well described by an extended two-sublattice antiferromagnetic classical mean-field model. In this orbitally quenched system, the competing weak easy-plane and easy-axis single-ion anisotropies of the two crystallogra…
Recent experiments on the Co-based $d^7$ honeycomb materials BaCo$_2$(AsO$_4$)$_2$ and BaCo$_2$(PO$_4$)$_2$ have drawn renewed interest to XXZ models with competing interactions beyond the nearest neighbor exchange. While the case of dominant antiferromagnetic exchange has been extensively studied, the actual materials exhibit a ferromagnetic nearest neighbor exchange. Here we show that such a sign change of the dominant nearest neighbor coupling has substantial consequences on the phase diagram. In particular, the nature of the quantum disordered phase of interest changes from a plaquette val…
The decisive role of magnetic anisotropy even in systems with small anisotropy is illustrated for the honeycomb-layered antiferromagnets The decisive role of magnetic anisotropy in honeycomb layered Li$_3$Ni$_2$SbO$_6$ and Na$_3$Ni$_2$SbO$_6$ with $A$ = Li and Na. Both systems evolve long range magnetic order below $T_{\rm N}$ = 14 and 16.5~K, respectively. The magnetic phase diagrams obtained from static magnetisation studies up to 15~T imply competing antiferromagnetic phases and a tricritical point at $T_{\rm N}$. The phase boundaries are visible in the dynamic response of the antiferromagn…
Few-layer graphene systems come in various stacking orders. Considering tight-binding models for electrons on stacked honeycomb layers, this gives rise to a variety of low-energy band structures near the charge neutrality point. Depending on the stacking order these band structures enhance or reduce the role of electron-electron interactions. Here, we investigate the instabilities of interacting electrons on honeycomb multilayers with a focus on trilayers with ABA and ABC stackings theoretically by means of the functional renormalization group. We find different types of competing instabilitie…
The electronic orders in Hubbard models on a Kagome lattice at van Hove filling are of intense current interest and debate. We study this issue using the singular-mode functional renormalization group theory. We discover a rich variety of electronic instabilities under short range interactions. With increasing on-site repulsion $U$, the system develops successively ferromagnetism, intra unit-cell antiferromagnetism, and charge bond order. With nearest-neighbor Coulomb interaction $V$ alone (U=0), the system develops intra-unit-cell charge density wave order for small $V$, s-wave superconductiv…
Antiferromagnetic and ferro/ferrimagnetic orders are typically exclusive in nature, thus, their co-existence in atomic-scale proximity is expected only in heterostructures. Breaking this paradigm and broadening the range of unconventional magnetic states, we report here on an atomic-scale hybrid spin state, which is stabilized in three-dimensional crystals of the polar antiferromagnet Co$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ by magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the \emph{Co} honeycomb layers and possesses a spontaneous in-plane ferromagnetic moment. Our microscopic spin model, capturing the observed field dep…
In two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnets, anisotropy is essential for the magnetic ordering as dictated by the Mermin-Wagner theorem. But when competing anisotropies are present, the phase transition becomes nontrivial. Here, utilizing highly sensitive susceptometry of scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy, we probe the spin correlations of ABC-stacked CrBr3 under zero magnetic field. We identify a plateau feature in susceptibility above the critical temperature (Tc) in thick samples. It signifies a crossover regime induced by the competition between easy-plane intralayer…
We study the impact of electron-phonon interactions on the many-body instabilities of electrons on the honeycomb lattice and their interplay with repulsive local and non-local Coulomb interactions at charge neutrality. To that end, we consider in-plane optical phonon modes with wavevectors close to the $Γ$ point as well as to the $K, -K$ points and calculate the effective phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction by integrating out the phonon modes. Ordering tendencies are studied by means of a momentum-resolved functional renormalization group approach allowing for an unbiased investigati…
We investigate the properties of the nearest-neighbor singlet pairing and the emergence of d-wave superconductivity in the doped honeycomb lattice considering the limit of large interactions and the $t-J_1-J_2$ model. First, by applying a renormalized mean-field procedure as well as slave-boson theories which account for the proximity to the Mott insulating state, we confirm the emergence of d-wave superconductivity in agreement with earlier works. We show that a small but finite $J_2$ spin coupling between next-nearest neighbors stabilizes d-wave symmetry compared to the extended s-wave scena…
Quantum magnets provide the simplest example of strongly interacting quantum matter, yet they continue to resist a comprehensive understanding above one spatial dimension (1D). In 1D, a key ingredient to progress is Luttinger liquid theory which provides a unified description. Here we explore a promising analogous framework in two dimensions, the Dirac spin liquid (DSL), which can be constructed on several different lattices. The DSL is a version of Quantum Electrodynamics ( QED$_3$) with four flavors of Dirac fermions coupled to photons. Importantly, its excitations also include magnetic mono…
In this paper, we derive lattice models for the narrow moiré bands of the AB-stacked twisted WSe$_2$ homobilayer through continuum model and Wannier orbital construction. Previous work has shown that an approximate SU(4) Hubbard model may be realized by combining spin and layer because inter-layer tunneling is suppressed due to spin $S_z$ conservation. However, Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) was ignored in the previous analysis. Here, we show that a Rashba SOC of reasonable magnitude can induce a finite but very small inter-layer hopping in the final lattice Hubbard model. At total filling $…
The crystal structure, magnetic ground state, and the temperature dependent microscopic spin-spin correlations of the frustrated honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet Na2Co2TeO6 have been investigated by powder neutron diffraction. A three dimensional (3D) long-range antiferromagnetic ordering has been found below TN ~ 24.8 K. The magnetic ground state, determined to be zigzag antiferromagnet [k = (1/2 0 0)], occurs due to the competing exchange interactions up to third nearest neighbors within the honeycomb lattice. The exceptional existence of a limited magnetic correlation length along the c ax…
Recently it was realized that the zigzag magnetic order in Kitaev materials can be stabilized by small negative off-diagonal interactions called the $Γ'$ terms. To fully understand the effect of the $Γ'$ interactions, we investigate the quantum $K$-$Γ$-$Γ'$ model on the honeycomb lattice using the variational Monte Carlo method. Two multinode Z$_2$ quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are found at $Γ'>0$, one of which is the previously found proximate Kitaev spin liquid called the PKSL14 state which shares the same projective symmetry group (PSG) with the Kitaev spin liquid. A remarkable result is that…
