Stability of the spin- 12 kagome ground state with breathing anisotropy

Abstract

We numerically study the spin-$1/2$ breathing kagome lattice. In this variation of the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet, the spins belonging to upward and downward facing triangles have different coupling strengths. Using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method and exact diagonalization, we show that the kagome antiferromagnet spin liquid is extremely robust to this anisotropy. Materials featuring this anisotropy -- and especially the recently studied vanadium compound $[{\mathrm{NH}}_{4}{]}_{2}[{\mathbf{C}}_{7}{\mathbf{H}}_{14}\mathbf{N}][{\mathbf{V}}_{7}{\mathbf{O}}_{6}{\mathbf{F}}_{18}]$ (DQVOF) -- may thus be very good candidates to realize the much studied kagome spin liquid. Further, we closely examine the limit of strong breathing anisotropy and find indications of a transition to a nematic phase.