Valence bond solid (AKLT) state from t_2g electrons


  Maciej Koch-Janusz [1]  ,  D.I. Khomskii [2]  ,  Eran Sela [3]  
[1] Weizmann Institute of Science
[2] University of Cologne
[3] Tel Aviv University

The models constructed by Affleck, Kennedy, Lieb and Tasaki (AKLT) describe gapped quantum spin liquids with fractionalized boundary spin excitations. The AKLT spin-spin interactions consist of projection operators onto the maximal possible spin formed between nearest neighbours, which involves a linear combination of powers of the Heisenberg coupling (S_i * S_j)^n, making these states difficult to realize. Indeed, except for the one dimensional spin-1 case, simple antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions which are typically found in magnetic insulators, do not stabilize these spin liquid states, but rather generate conventional antiferromagnetically ordered states. We show that this type of interactions can be generated by orbital physics in multiorbital Mott insulators. Motivated by  microscopic modeling of spin-orbit entangled Mott insulators such as the layered hexagonal Iridates A_2IrO_3 with A = Na,Li, we focus on t_2g electrons on the honeycomb lattice and propose a physical realization of the spin-3/2 AKLT state. Interestingly enough, the valence bond solid (AKLT) state found for the noninteracting electrons survives the increase of the on-site (Hubbard) repulsion, but it changes to the more conventional antiferromagnetic Neel state with increase of the Hund's rule coupling J_H; this stresses the special role the Hund's rule coupling plays in the physics of many-electron systems.