Ground state properties of $\mathrm{Na_2IrO_3}$ determined from $\textit{ab initio}$ Hamiltonian and its extensions containing Kitaev and extended Heisenberg interactions

TL;DR

This study uses advanced numerical methods to analyze the ground state of Na2IrO3 based on an ab initio Hamiltonian, confirming its zigzag magnetic order and revealing a complex phase diagram with multiple magnetic phases.

Contribution

It applies larger-scale numerical techniques to validate previous results and uncovers new magnetic phases near the ab initio parameters, advancing understanding of Kitaev materials.

Findings

Na2IrO3 has a zigzag magnetic order consistent with experiments.

Identifies three additional magnetic phases near the ab initio point.

Demonstrates the effectiveness of tensor network methods for large-scale magnetic calculations.

Abstract

We investigate the ground state properties of $\mathrm{Na_2IrO_3}$ based on numerical calculations of the recently proposed {\it ab initio} Hamiltonian represented by Kitaev and extended Heisenberg interactions. To overcome the limitation posed by small tractable system sizes in the exact diagonalization study employed in a previous study (Yamaji $\textit{et al.}$, Phys. Rev. Lett. $\textbf{113}$, 107201 (2014)), we apply two-dimensional density matrix renomalization group, and infinite-size tensor-network method. By calculating at much larger system sizes, we critically test the validity of the exact diagonalization results. The results consistently indicate that the ground state of $\mathrm{Na_2IrO_3}$ is a magnetically ordered state with zigzag configuration in agreement with experimental observations and the previous diagonalization study. Applications of the two independent methods in addition to the exact diagonalization study further uncover a consistent and rich phase diagram near the zigzag phase beyond the accessibility of the exact diagonalization. For example, in the parameter space away from the $\textit{ab initio}$ value of $\mathrm{Na_2IrO_3}$ controlled by the trigonal distortion, we find three phases: (i) an ordered phase with the magnetic moment aligned mutually in $120$ degrees orientation on every third hexagon, (ii) a magnetically ordered phase with a $16$-site unit-cell, and (iii) an ordered phase with presumably incommensurate periodicity of the moment. It suggests that potentially rich magnetic structures may appear in $A_\mathrm{2}\mathrm{IrO_3}$ compounds for $A$ other than Na. The present results also serve to establish the accuracy of the first-principles approach in reproducing the available experimental results thereby further contribute to find a route to realize the Kitaev spin liquid.