Interlayer magnetic-frustration–driven quantum spin disorder in the honeycomb compound In₃Cu₂VO₉

Author： Liu Da-Yong Guo Ying Zhang Xiao-Li Wang Jiang-Long Zeng Zhi Lin Hai-Qing Zou Liang-Jian

E-ISSN： 1286-4854|103|4|47010-47010

ISSN： 0295-5075

Source： EPL (EUROPHYSICS LETTERS), Vol.103, Iss.4, 2013-09, pp. : 47010-47010

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Abstract

In this paper we present the electronic and magnetic properties of the honeycomb compound In₃Cu₂VO₉. We find that the band dispersions display Dirac cone features in the nonmagnetic phase, as observed in graphene. The parent phase is a charge transfer insulator with an energy gap of about 1.5 eV. Singly occupied $d_{3z^{2}-r^{2}}$ electrons of copper ions contribute an $S = 1/2$ spin, while vanadium ions show nonmagnetism. The planar nearest-neighbor, next-nearest-neighbor and interplane superexchange couplings of Cu spins are $J_{1}\approx16.2\ \text{meV}$ , $J_{2} \approx 0.3\ \text{meV}$ and $J_{z} \approx 1.2\ \text{meV}$ , suggesting a low-dimensional antiferromagnet rather than a spin liquid. We propose that the magnetic frustration along the c-axis leads to a quantum spin disorder in In₃Cu₂VO₉, in accordance with recent experiments.