Emergent Classical Spin Liquid Phases in an Ising Lattice via Size Effects

Abstract

We show that a classical spin liquid phase can emerge from an ordered magnetic state in the two-dimensional frustrated Shastry-Sutherland Ising lattice due to lateral confinement. Two distinct classical spin liquid states are stabilized (i) long-range spin-correlated dimers, and (ii) exponentially decaying spin-correlated disordered states, depending on widths of W=3n, 3n+1 or W=3n+2, n being a positive integer. Stabilization of spin liquids in a square-triangular lattice moves beyond the conventional geometric paradigm of kagome, triangular or tetrahedral arrangements of antiferromagnetic ions, where spin liquids have been discussed conventionally.