Origin of Biquadratic Exchange Interactions in a Mott Insulator as a Driving Force of Spin Nematic Order

Abstract

We consider a series of Mott insulators in unit of two orbitals each hosting spin-1/2 electron, and by pairing two spin-1/2 into spin-1 triplet, derive the effective exchange interaction between the adjacent units via fourth order perturbation theory. It turns out that the biquadratic exchange interaction between spin-1, which is one of the origins of the nematic order, arises only in processes where the four different electrons exchange cyclically along the twisted loop, which we call "twisted ring exchange" processes. We show that the term becomes the same order with the Heisenberg exchange interactions when the on-orbital Coulomb interaction is not too large. Whereas, the inter-orbital Coulomb interactions give rise to additional processes that cancel the twisted ring exchange, and strongly suppresses the biquadratic term. The Mott insulator with two electrons on degenerate two orbitals is thus not an ideal platform to study such nematic orders.