Quantum phase diagram and chiral spin liquid in the extended spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ honeycomb XY model

Abstract

The frustrated XY model on the honeycomb lattice has drawn lots of attentions because of the potential emergence of chiral spin liquid (CSL) with the increasing of frustrations or competing interactions. In this work, we study the extended spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XY model with nearest-neighbor ($J_1$), and next-nearest-neighbor ($J_2$) interactions in the presence of a three-spins chiral ($J_{\chi}$) term using density matrix renormalization group methods. We obtain a quantum phase diagram with both conventionally ordered and topologically ordered phases. In particular, the long-sought Kalmeyer-Laughlin CSL is shown to emerge under a small $J_{\chi}$ perturbation due to the interplay of the magnetic frustration and chiral interactions. The CSL, which is a non-magnetic phase, is identified by the scalar chiral order, the finite spin gap on a torus, and the chiral entanglement spectrum described by chiral $SU(2)_{1}$ conformal field theory.