Strategy to Extract Kitaev Interaction using Symmetry in Honeycomb Mott Insulators

TL;DR

This paper proposes a symmetry-based method to isolate and quantify the Kitaev interaction in honeycomb Mott insulators, aiding the identification of materials hosting Kitaev spin liquids.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using magnetic field orientations and symmetry considerations to extract Kitaev and Gamma interactions from microscopic models.

Findings

Distinct spin excitations from different magnetic field directions reveal interaction strengths.

Symmetry analysis enables separation of Kitaev and Gamma interactions.

Dynamic spin structure factors support experimental verification.

Abstract

The Kitaev spin liquid, a ground state of the bond-dependent Kitaev model in a honeycomb lattice has been a centre of attraction, since a microscopic theory to realize such an interaction in solid-state materials was discovered. A challenge in real materials though is the presence of the Heisenberg and another bond-dependent Gamma interactions detrimental to the Kitaev spin liquid, and there have been many debates on their relative strengths. Here we offer a strategy to extract the Kitaev interaction out of a full microscopic model by utilizing the symmetries of the Hamiltonian. Two tilted magnetic field directions related by a two-fold rotational symmetry generate distinct spin excitations originating from a specific combination of the Kitaev and Gamma interactions. Together with the in- and out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy, one can determine the Kitaev and Gamma interactions separately. Dynamic spin structure factors are presented to motivate future experiments. The proposed setups will advance the search for Kitaev materials.