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Realization of the anisotropic compass model on the diamond lattice of Cu2+ in CuAl2O4

S. A. Nikolaev, I. V. Solovyev, A. N. Ignatenko, V. Yu. Irkhin, and S. V. Streltsov
Phys. Rev. B 98, 201106(R) – Published 12 November 2018
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Abstract

Spin-orbit (SO) Mott insulators are regarded as a new paradigm of magnetic materials, whose properties are largely influenced by SO coupling and featured by highly anisotropic bond-dependent exchange interactions between the spin-orbital entangled Kramers doublets, as typically manifested in 5d iridates. Here, we propose that a very similar situation can be realized in cuprates when the Cu2+ ions reside in a tetrahedral environment, as in spinel compounds. Using first-principles electronic structure calculations, we construct a realistic model for the diamond lattice of the Cu2+ ions in CuAl2O4 and show that the magnetic properties of this compound are largely controlled by anisotropic compass-type exchange interactions that dramatically modify the magnetic ground state by lifting the spiral spin-liquid degeneracy and stabilizing a commensurate single-q spiral.

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  • Received 8 May 2018
  • Revised 9 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.201106

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

S. A. Nikolaev1,*, I. V. Solovyev1,2,†, A. N. Ignatenko3, V. Yu. Irkhin3, and S. V. Streltsov2,3,‡

  • 1National Institute for Materials Science, MANA, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan
  • 2Department of Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics, Ural Federal University, Mira Street 19, 620002 Yekaterinburg, Russia
  • 3Institute of Metal Physics, S. Kovalevskoy Street 18, 620108 Yekaterinburg, Russia

  • *saishi@inbox.ru
  • solovyev.igor@nims.go.jp
  • streltsov@imp.uran.ru

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 20 — 15 November 2018

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