Melting the vortex crystal in the Heisenberg-Kitaev model in a magnetic field

Abstract

We will investigate in this project exotic phases of matter which emerge due to the combination of strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlations, giving raise the so-called spin-orbit Mott insulators. As systems of interest, we have in mind the materials alpha-RuCl3 e A2IrO3 (A=Na, Li), which are well described by the Heisenberg-Kitaev model. In particular, we shall study in further detail alpha-RuCl3, a compound that presents strong evidence of a spin liquid phase in the presence of an external magnetic field. We would like to investigate how some of the unusual magnetic phases encountered in the classical limit of the Heisenberg-Kitaev model, such as a vortex crystal, generate a spin liquid when quantum fluctuations are included. In addition, we shall investigate if one of the possibly emergent spin liquids exhibits the adequate phenomenology to explain the results observed in alpha-RuCl3. (AU)