Field-induced intertwined orders in 3D Mott-Kitaev honeycomb $\beta$-Li2IrO3

Understand

Honeycomb iridates are thought to have strongly spin-anisotropic exchange interactions that could lead to an extraordinary state of matter known as the Kitaev quantum spin liquid.

• The realization of this state requires almost perfectly frustrated interactions between the magnetic Ir$^{4+}$ ions, but small imbalances in energy make other ordered states more favorable.
• Indeed, the closeness in energy of these ordered states is itself a signature of the intrinsic frustration in the system.
• In this work, we illustrate that small magnetic fields can be employed to drive the frustrated quantum magnet $\beta-$Li$_2$IrO$_3$,between different broken symmetry states, but without causing a true thermodynamic phase transition.