Kitaev spin liquids in spin-orbit coupled correlated materials

Abstract

Recently, a new family of correlated honeycomb materials with strong spin-orbit coupling have been promising candidates to realize the Kitaev spin liquid. In particular, a half-integer quantized thermal Hall conductivity was reported in alpha-RuCl3 under the magnetic field. Using a generic nearest neighbour spin model with bond-dependent interactions, I will present numerical evidence of an extended regime of quantum spin liquids. I will also discuss how to achieve a chiral spin liquid near ferromagnetic Kitaev interaction in the presence of the magnetic field leading to the quantized thermal Hall conductivity.