Magnetic materials with a honeycomb lattice structure have been intensely studied in search of a quantum spin liquid phase, where the electron spins are entangled instead of ordered. In such materials, the coupling between spin and orbital moments is believed to create an effective spin-1/2 state known as the J=1/2 state. The Tafti Lab graduate student, Faranak Bahrami, has engineered a new quantum mechanical state in such materials where the spin-1/2 moments are aligned with a specific crystallographic direction. As a result, she has found a robust magnetic order at nearly 100 K in the new material Ag3LiRh2O6. This Science Advances publication shows that a subtle change in the lattice structure known as trigonal distortion has a major influence on magnetism. We induce the trigonal distortion by changing the interlayer bonds in honeycomb materials by exchanging alkaline elements with noble transition metals, namely copper and silver. The proposed methods will help physicists find new regimes in the phase diagram of magnetic honeycomb materials. The data seen in the figure are taken from the X-ray synchrotron source at the American Photon Source, where a change in the X-ray absorption enables us to find the structure of spin-orbital structures.
