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arXiv · 2111.00925

Sr$_3$LiIrO$_6$: a potential quantum spin liquid candidate in the one dimensional $d^4$ iridate family

Abstract

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) offers a large variety of novel and extraordinary magnetic and electronic properties in otherwise `ordinary pool' of heavy ion oxides. Here we present a detailed study on an apparently isolated hexagonal 2$H$ spin-chain $d^4$ iridate Sr$_3$LiIrO$_6$ (SLIO) with geometric frustration. Our structural studies clearly reveal perfect Li-Ir chemical order in this compound. Our combined experimental and {\it ab-initio} electronic structure investigations establish a magnetic ground state with finite Ir$^{5+}$ magnetic moments in this compound, contrary to the anticipated nonmagnetic $J$=0 state. Furthermore, the dc magnetic susceptibility ($\chi$), heat capacity ($C_p$) and spin-polarized density functional theory (DFT) studies unravel that despite having noticeable antiferromagnetic correlation among the Ir$^{5+}$ local moments, this SLIO system evades any kind of magnetic ordering down to at least 2 K due to geometrical frustration, arising from the comparable interchain Ir-O-O-Ir superexchange interaction strengths, hence promoting SLIO as a potential quantum spin liquid candidate.

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Abhisek Bandyopadhyay, A. Chakraborty, S. Bhowal, Vinod Kumar, M. M. Sala, A. Efimenko, C. Meneghini, I. Dasgupta, T. Saha Dasgupta, A. V. Mahajan, Sugata Ray. 2021-11-01. Sr$_3$LiIrO$_6$: a potential quantum spin liquid candidate in the one dimensional $d^4$ iridate family. https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.00925

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