Abstract
Spin-orbit coupled quantum magnets on the Honeycomb lattice have attracted lots of research interest since they may contain Kitaev exchange interactions and are promising to realize the Kitaev Spin Liquid phase. However, most of the Kitaev materials exhibits long-range magnetic order at low temperatures. Hence theoretical investigations of the phase diagram for extended Kitaev models are desired to help the experimental search of candidate materials. In this talk, I will present our recent results of Variational Monte Carlo study on Kitaev physics. We consider the effects of non-Kitaev interactions such as the Gamma and Gamma prime terms, as well as external magnetic fields and pressure. Severals multi-node Quantum Spin Liquids are found. We show that the number of the nodes is closely related to the symmetry of the system. External magnetic fields drive these QSLs into chiral spin liquids which are either Abelian or non-Abelian, depending on their Chern numbers. Our work reveals the possible existence of a series of gapless quantum spin liquids on the Honeycomb lattice.
Biography
Dr. Zheng-Xin Liu obtained his Ph.D in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2010. After that he worked in the Institute for Advanced Study in Tsinghua University as a post doctor and then as an associate member. He joined Renmin University of China in 2015 as an associate professor. Dr. Liu’s research area includes quantum magnetism, symmetry protected topological phases, and numerical methods in many-body physics. Recently, his interest is focused on spin-orbit coupled quantum magnets, such as quantum spin liquids and magnetic semimetals.
Anyone interested is welcome to attend.