Spinor ice correlation in flat-band electronic states on kagome and pyrochlore lattices with spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We investigate the emergence and transformation of pinch-point singularities in the excitation spectrum of electronic flat band systems on kagome and pyrochlore lattices with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and Coulomb interactions. While pinch points are widely recognized as signatures of classical spin liquids, they also appear in electronic flat-band systems when there exists a singular band-touching point to dispersive bands. We explore how SOC modifies the pinch-point structure in the chiral spin flat-band metallic state, which we term spinor-ice. The pinch point profile can rotate or redistribute its spectral weight, governed by a prefactor in the spectral function that primarily depends on the direction of the ground-state spin polarization, where we show that SOC flat bands could be experimentally probed by rotating the spin polarization of the injected electron to infer internal magnetic structures. These observations are discussed in conjunction with the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and the application to the potential SOC flat-band material $\rm CsW_2O_6$. We also demonstrate the persistent residual pinch-point features under Coulomb interactions and deviations from the ideal flat-band limit.