Quantum Kagome Ice

TL;DR

This paper uses large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations to identify conditions under which quantum spin ices exhibit a two-dimensional quantum spin liquid phase with no magnetic order, aiding experimental searches.

Contribution

It demonstrates that specific interactions in quantum spin ices can produce a $Z_2$ spin liquid phase, providing a systematic way to find 2D QSLs in 3D materials.

Findings

Identification of a $Z_2$ spin liquid phase in quantum spin ice models.

External magnetic field induces decoupled kagome planes with quantum spin liquid behavior.

Simulation results suggest experimental procedures to realize 2D QSLs.

Abstract

Actively shought since the turn of the century, two-dimensional quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are exotic phases of matter where magnetic moments remain disordered even at extremely low temperatures. Despite ongoing searches, QSLs remain elusive, due to a lack of concrete knowledge of the microscopic mechanisms that inhibit magnetic order in real materials. Here, we study a theoretical model for a broad class of frustrated magnetic rare-earth pyrochlore materials called "quantum spin ices". When subject to an external magnetic field along the [111] crystallographic direction, the resulting spin interactions contain a mix of geometric frustration and quantum fluctuations in decoupled two-dimensional kagome planes. Using large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we identify a simple set of interactions sufficient to promote a groundstate with no magnetic long-range order, and a gap to excitations, consistent with a $Z_2$ spin liquid phase. This suggests a systematic experimental procedure to search for two-dimensional QSLs within the broader class of three-dimensional pyrochlore quantum spin ice materials.