The Spinon Fermi Surface U(1) Spin Liquid in a Spin-Orbit-Coupled Triangular Lattice Mott Insulator YbMgGaO4

TL;DR

This paper identifies a U(1) spin liquid with a spinon Fermi surface in YbMgGaO4, using symmetry analysis and mean-field methods, explaining experimental observations and offering a framework applicable to similar materials.

Contribution

It systematically analyzes U(1) spin liquids in spin-orbit-coupled triangular lattices, highlighting a specific state consistent with experiments and extending the methodology to other candidates.

Findings

Identified a U(1) spin liquid with a spinon Fermi surface in YbMgGaO4.

The U1A00 state explains spectroscopic results in YbMgGaO4.

The approach can be applied to other spin-orbit-coupled spin liquid materials.

Abstract

Motivated by the recent progress on the spin-orbit-coupled triangular lattice spin liquid candidate YbMgGaO4, we carry out a systematic projective symmetry group analysis and mean-field study of candidate U(1) spin liquid ground states. Due to the spin-orbital entanglement of the Yb moments, the space group symmetry operation transforms both the position and the orientation of the local moments, and hence brings different features for the projective realization of the lattice symmetries from the cases with spin-only moments. Among the eight U(1) spin liquids that we find with the fermionic parton construction, only one spin liquid state, that was proposed and analyzed in Yao Shen, et al, Nature 540, 559-562 (2016) and labeled as U1A00 in the present work, stands out and gives a large spinon Fermi surface and provides a consistent explanation for the spectroscopic results in YbMgGaO4. Further connection of this spinon Fermi surface U(1) spin liquid with YbMgGaO4 and the future directions are discussed. Finally, our results may apply to other spin-orbit-coupled triangular lattice spin liquid candidates, and more broadly, our general approach can be well extended to spin-orbit-coupled spin liquid candidate materials.