Abstract
Complex lattices provide a versatile ground for fascinating quantum many-body physics. Here, we propose an exotic mechanics for generating orbital frustration in hexagonal lattices. We study two-component (pseudospin-) Bose gases in -orbital bands of two-dimensional hexagonal lattices, and find that the system exhibits previously untouched orbital frustration as a result of the interplay of spin and orbital degrees of freedom, in contrast to normal Ising-type orbital ordering of spinless -orbital band bosons in two-dimensional hexagonal lattices. Based on the classification by symmetry analysis, we find the interplay of orbital frustration and strong interaction leads to exotic Mott and superfluid phases with spin-orbital intertwined orders, in spite of the complete absence of spin-orbital interaction in the Hamiltonian. Our study implies many-body correlations in a multiorbital setting could induce rich spin-orbital intertwined physics in complex lattice structures.
- Received 15 January 2021
- Revised 25 June 2021
- Accepted 8 September 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033274
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society