Search

RuCl$_3$ was likely the first ever deliberately synthesized ruthenium compound, following the discovery of the $_{44}$Ru element in 1844. For a long time it was known as an oxidation catalyst, with its physical properties being discrepant and confusing, until a decade ago when its allotropic form $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ rose to exceptional prominence. This "re-discovery" of $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ has not only reshaped the hunt for a material manifestation of the Kitaev spin liquid, but it has opened the floodgates of theoretical and experimental research in the many unusual phases and excitations that the anisotropic-exchange magnets as a class of compounds have to offer. Given its importance for the field of Kitaev materials, it is astonishing that the low-energy spin model that describes this compound and its possible proximity to the much-desired spin-liquid state is still a subject of significant debate ten years later. In the present study, we argue that the existing key phenomenological observations put strong natural constraints on the effective microscopic spin model of $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$, and specifically on its spin-orbit-induced anisotropic-exchange parameters that are responsible for the non-trivial physical properties of this material. These constraints allow one to focus on the relevant region of the multi-dimensional phase diagram of the $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ model, suggest an intuitive description of it via a different parametrization of the exchange matrix, offer a unifying view on the earlier assessments of its parameters, and bring closer together several approaches to the derivation of anisotropic-exchange models. We explore extended phase diagrams relevant to the $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ parameter space using quasi-classical, Luttinger-Tisza, exact diagonalization, and density-matrix renormalization group methods, demonstrating a remarkably c... (arxiv cutoff; for the rest, see the paper), Comment: 39 pages, 28 Figures. Text of immense pedagogical power. Fixed Ref. [1]

The phase diagram of the $S\!=\!1/2$ easy-axis triangular-lattice $J_1\!-\!J_2$ model is investigated using the density-matrix renormalization group and analytical insights. We find a significant spin-liquid region extending from the Heisenberg limit and residing between the Y phase-known as the magnetic analogue of the "supersolid"-and collinear stripe phase. The order parameters of the supersolid are analyzed and an understanding of its lack of ferromagnetic moment is suggested., Comment: 5 pages main text, 2+8 pages supplemental material

Using large-scale density-matrix renormalzation group calculations and minimally augmented spin-wave theory, we demonstrate that the phase diagram of the quantum $S\!=\!\frac12$ $J_1$--$J_3$ ferro-antiferromagnetic model on the honeycomb lattice differs dramatically from the classical one. It hosts the double-zigzag and Ising-z phases as unexpected intermediaries between ferromagnetic and zigzag states that are also extended beyond their classical regions of stability. In broad agreement with quantum order-by-disorder arguments, these collinear phases replace the classical spiral state., Comment: 7+9 pages, 5+9 figures; Fixed typos in Sec.VII of SM

Typical Wannier-function downfolding starts with a mean-field or density functional set of bands to construct the Wannier functions. Here we carry out a controlled approach, using DMRG-computed natural orbital bands, to downfold the three-band Hubbard model to an effective single band model. A sharp drop-off in the natural orbital occupancy at the edge of the first band provides a clear justification for a single-band model. Constructing Wannier functions from the first band, we compute all possible two-particle terms and retain those with significant magnitude. The resulting single-band model includes two-site density-assisted hopping terms with $t_n \sim 0.6 t$. These terms lead to a reduction of the ratio $U/t_{\rm eff}$, and are important in capturing the doping-asymmetric carrier mobility, as well as in enhancing the pairing in a single-band model for the hole-doped cuprates., Comment: 7+4 pages, 4+5 figures; revised some writings

We provide strong evidence of the spin-nematic state in a paradigmatic ferro-antiferromagnetic $J_1$--$J_2$ model using analytical and density-matrix renormalization group methods. In zero field, the attraction of spin-flip pairs leads to a first-order transition and no nematic state, while pair-repulsion at larger $J_2$ stabilizes the nematic phase in a narrow region near the pair-condensation field. A devil's staircase of multi-pair condensates is conjectured for weak pair-attraction. A suppression of the spin-flip gap by many-body effects leads to an order-of-magnitude contraction of the nematic phase compared to na\"ive expectations. The proposed phase diagram should be broadly valid., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; 11 pages of supplemental materials; almost the same as the published version

We study the pairing properties of the two-dimensional $t$-$t'$-$t''$-$J$ model, where $t'$ and $t''$ are second and third neighbor hoppings, at a doping level $x\approx0.1$. Recent studies of the $t$-$t'$-$J$ model find strong pairing for $t'>0$, associated with electron doping, but an absence of pairing for $t'<0$ associated with hole doping. This is in contrast to the cuprates, where the highest transition temperatures appear for hole doping. Model parameterizations for the cuprates estimate a $t''$ comparable to $t'$, which, in principle, might fix this discrepancy. However, we find that it does not; we observe a suppression of pairing for the hole-doped system ($t'<0, t''>0$) while for the electron-doped system ($t'>0, t''<0$) $d$-wave pairing is robust. Extended hoppings appear to be insufficient to make the one-band $t$-$t'$-$J$ model capable of describing the pairing in the hole doped system.

Non-saturating high-temperature resistivity ("bad metal"), T-linear low-temperature resistivity ("strange metal"), and a crossover to activation-free growth of the resistivity in the low-temperature limit ("weak insulator") are among the most exotic behaviors widely observed in many strongly correlated materials for decades that defy the standard Fermi liquid description of solids. Here we investigate these puzzling behaviors by computing temperature-dependent optical conductivity of an emergent Bose liquid and find that it reproduces all the unexplained features of the experiments, including a featureless continuum and a well-known mid-infrared peak. Amazingly and with physically intuitive mechanisms, the corresponding doping- and temperature-dependent resistivity displays the bad metal and strange metal simultaneously and sometimes weak insulating behaviors as well. The unification of all these non-Fermi liquid behaviors in a single model suggests that a new quantum state of matter, namely the emergent Bose liquid, will guide the development of the next generation of solid state physics.

We report results of large scale ground state density matrix renormalization group(DMRG) calculations on $t$-$t'$-$J$ cylinders with circumferences 6 and 8. We determine a rough phase diagram which appears to approximate the 2D system. While for many properties, positive and negative $t'$ values ($t'/t = \pm 0.2$) appear to correspond to electron and hole doped cuprate systems, respectively, the behavior of superconductivity itself shows an inconsistency between the model and the materials. The $t'<0$ (hole doped) region shows antiferromagnetism limited to very low doping, stripes more generally, and the familiar Fermi-surface of the hole doped cuprates. However, we find $t'<0$ strongly suppresses superconductivity. The $t'>0$ (electron doped) region shows the expected circular Fermi pocket of holes around the $(\pi,\pi)$ point and a broad low-doped region of coexisting antiferromagnetism and $d$-wave pairing with a strong triplet $p$ component at wave-vector $(\pi,\pi)$ induced by the antiferromagnetism and $d$-wave pairing. The pairing for the electron low-doped system with $t'>0$ is strong and unambiguous in the DMRG simulations. At larger doping another broad region with stripes in addition to weaker $d$-wave pairing and striped $p$-wave pairing appears. In a small doping region near $x=0.08$ for $t'\sim-0.2$, we find a new type of stripe involving unpaired holes located predominantly on chains spaced three lattice spacings apart. The undoped two-leg ladder regions in between mimic the short-ranged spin correlations seen in two-leg Heisenberg ladders.

The normal state of cuprate superconductors exhibits many exotic behaviors qualitatively different from the Fermi liquid, the foundation of condensed matter physics. Here we demonstrate that non-Fermi liquid behaviors emerge naturally from scattering against an emergent Bose liquid. Particularly, we find a finite zero-energy scattering rate at low-temperature limit that grows linearly with respect to temperature, against clean fermions' generic non-dissipative characteristics. Surprisingly, three other seemingly unrelated experimental observations are also produced, including the well-studied "kink" in the quasi-particle dispersion, as well as the puzzling correspondences between the normal and superconducting state. Our findings provide a general route for fermionic systems to generate non-Fermi liquid behavior, and suggest strongly that by room temperature the doped holes in the cuprates have already formed an emergent Bose liquid of tightly bound pairs, whose low-temperature condensation gives unconventional superconductivity.