Spin Liquid vs. Spin-Orbit Coupling on the Triangular Lattice

In recent years it has been realized that strong spin-orbit coupling can provide an new avenue in the search for spin liquid phases in experimentally realizable materials. We explore the relationship between strong spin-orbit coupling and spin liquid physics. We study a very general model on the triangular lattice where spin-orbit coupling leads to the presence of highly anisotropic interactions. We use variational Monte Carlo to study both U(1) quantum spin liquid states and ordered ones, via the Gutzwiller projected fermion construction. We thereby obtain the ground state phase diagram in this phase space. We further develop a novel method to go beyond the simple Gutzwiller wave functions for the spinon Fermi surface quantum spin liquid. This modification results in the appearance of several qualitatively new phenomena. Of particular interest is the presence of a large thermal Hall conductivity in this system.