Magnetic structure and excitation spectrum of the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev magnet beta-Li2IrO3

Article

关键词: SPIN;    PHASES;    CONFIGURATIONS;    EXCHANGE;    CRYSTALS;    STATES;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.97.125125

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

We present a theoretical study of the static and dynamical properties of the three-dimensional, hyperhoneycomb Kitaev magnet beta-Li2IrO3. We argue that the observed incommensurate order can be understood in terms of a long-wavelength twisting of a nearby commensurate period-3 state, with the same key qualitatively features. The period-3 state shows very different structure when either the Kitaev interaction K or the off-diagonal exchange anisotropy Gamma is dominant. A comparison of the associated static spin structure factors with reported scattering experiments in zero and finite fields gives strong evidence that beta-Li2IrO3 lies in the regime of dominant Kitaev coupling, and that the Heisenberg exchange J is much weaker than both K and Gamma. Our predictions for the magnon excitation spectra, the dynamical spin structure factors, and their polarization dependence provide additional distinctive fingerprints that can be checked experimentally.

【 授权许可】

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