Spin Liquid versus Spin Orbit Coupling on the Triangular Lattice

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong spin-orbit coupling influences spin liquid states on a triangular lattice, using variational Monte Carlo to map out phase diagrams and analyze the effects of anisotropic interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive study of spin liquids with spin-orbit coupling on the triangular lattice, including phase diagrams and beyond-Gutzwiller wavefunction effects.

Findings

Identification of ground state phases with varying spin-orbit coupling

Analysis of anisotropic interactions on spin liquid stability

Insights into beyond-Gutzwiller effects on spinon Fermi surfaces

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the relationship between strong spin-orbit coupling and spin liquid physics. We study a very general model on the triangular lattice where spin-orbit coupling leads to the presence of highly anisotropic interactions. We use variational Monte Carlo to study both $U(1)$ quantum spin liquid states and ordered ones, via the Gutzwiller projected fermion construction. We thereby obtain the ground state phase diagram in this phase space. We furthermore consider effects beyond the Gutzwiller wavefunctions for the spinon Fermi surface quantum spin liquid, which are of particular importance when spin-orbit coupling is present.