First-Principles Design of the Spinel Iridate for High-Temperature Quantum Spin Ice
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 067201 – Published 12 February, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.067201
Abstract
Insulating magnetic rare-earth pyrochlores related to spin ice host emergent bosonic monopolar spinons, which obey a magnetic analogue of quantum electrodynamics and may open a route to spinonics. However, the energy scales of the interactions among rare-earth moments are so low ( 1 K) that the possible quantum coherence can be achieved at a sub-Kelvin scale. Here, we design high-temperature quantum spin ice materials from first principles. It is shown that the -site deintercalated spinel iridate , which has been experimentally grown as epitaxial thin films, is a promising candidate for quantum spin ice with a spin-ice-rule interaction of a few tens of meV. Controlling electronic structures of through substrates, it is possible to tune magnetic interactions so that a magnetic Coulomb liquid persists at high temperatures.