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 iridates. Here, we propose that a very similar situation can be realized in cuprates when the 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 ions in 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- spiral.
- Received 8 May 2018
- Revised 9 July 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.201106
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