Ground-State Phase Diagram of the Kitaev–Heisenberg Model on a Three-dimensional Hyperhoneycomb Lattice

Abstract

The Kitaev model, which hosts a quantum spin liquid (QSL) in the ground state, was originally defined on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, but can be straightforwardly extended to any tricoordinate lattices in any spatial dimensions. In particular, the three-dimensional (3D) extensions are of interest as a realization of 3D QSLs, and some materials like $\beta$-Li$_{2}$IrO$_{3}$, $\gamma$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$, and $\beta$-ZnIrO$_{3}$ were proposed for the candidates. However, the phase diagrams of the models for those candidates have not been fully elucidated, mainly due to the limitation of numerical methods for 3D frustrated quantum spin systems. Here we study the Kitaev-Heisenberg model defined on a 3D hyperhoneycomb lattice, by using the pseudofermion functional renormalization group method. We show that the ground-state phase diagram contains the QSL phases in the vicinities of the pristine ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kitaev models, in addition to four magnetically ordered phases, similar to the two-dimensional honeycomb case. Our results respect the four-sublattice symmetry inherent in the model, which was violated in the previous study. Moreover, we also show how the phase diagram changes with the anisotropy in the interactions. The results provide a reference for the search of the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev materials.