arXiv · 1511.08333
Strong magnetic frustration and anti-site disorder causing spin-glass behavior in honeycomb Li2RhO3
Abstract
With large spin-orbit coupling, the $t_{2g}^5$ electron configuration in $d$-metal oxides is prone to highly anisotropic exchange interactions and exotic magnetic properties. In $5d^5$ iridates, given the existing variety of crystal structures, the magnetic anisotropy can be tuned from antisymmetric to symmetric Kitaev-type, with interaction strengths that outsize the isotropic terms. By many-body electronic-structure calculations we here address the nature of the magnetic exchange and the intriguing spin-glass behavior of Li$_2$RhO$_3$, a $4d^5$ honeycomb oxide. For pristine crystals without Rh-Li site inversion, we predict a dimerized ground state as in the isostructural $5d^5$ iridate Li$_2$IrO$_3$, with triplet spin dimers effectively placed on a frustrated triangular lattice. With Rh-Li anti-site disorder, we explain the observed spin-glass phase as a superposition of different, nearly degenerate symmetry-broken configurations.
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Vamshi M. Katukuri, Satoshi Nishimoto, Ioannis Rousochatzakis, Hermann Stoll, Jeroen van den Brink, Liviu Hozoi. 2015-11-26. Strong magnetic frustration and anti-site disorder causing spin-glass behavior in honeycomb Li2RhO3. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14718
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