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arXiv · 1605.04471

Designing Kitaev spin liquids in metal-organic frameworks

Abstract

Kitaev's honeycomb lattice spin model is a remarkable exactly solvable model, which has a particular type of spin liquid (Kitaev spin liquid) as the ground state. Although its possible realization in iridates and $α$-RuCl$_3$ has been vigorously discussed recently, these materials have substantial non-Kitaev direct exchange interactions and do not have a spin liquid ground state. We propose metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with Ru$^{3+}$ (or Os$^{3+}$) forming the honeycomb lattice as promising candidates for a more ideal realization of Kitaev-type spin models where the direct exchange interaction is strongly suppressed. The great flexibility of MOFs allows generalization to other three-dimensional lattices, for potential realization of a variety of spin liquids such as a Weyl spin liquid.

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Masahiko G. Yamada, Hiroyuki Fujita, Masaki Oshikawa. 2017-06-06. Designing Kitaev spin liquids in metal-organic frameworks. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.119.057202

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