Semi-Dirac spin liquids and frustrated quantum magnetism on the trellis lattice

Geometrical frustration in quantum magnets provides a fertile setting for unconventional phases of matter, including quantum spin liquids (QSLs). The trellis lattice, with its complex site arrangements and edge-sharing triangular motifs, presents a promising platform for such physics. In this work, we undertake a comprehensive classification of all fully symmetric QSLs on the trellis lattice using the projective symmetry group approach within the Abrikosov-fermion representation. We find 7 U(1) and 25 <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <a:msub> <a:mi mathvariant="double-struck">Z</a:mi> <a:mn>2</a:mn> </a:msub> </a:math> short-ranged and analyze the phase diagram in the mean-field parameter space, uncovering both gapped and Dirac QSLs as well as a semi-Dirac spin liquid that emerges at the level of projective symmetry group classification and mean-field band structure, in which the spinon dispersion is linear along one momentum direction but quadratic along the orthogonal one. We demonstrate that such dispersions can occur only at high-symmetry points in the Brillouin zone with <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <c:msub> <c:mi>C</c:mi> <c:mrow> <c:mn>2</c:mn> <c:mi>v</c:mi> </c:mrow> </c:msub> </c:math> little groups and analyze their characteristic correlation signatures. Moreover, by optimizing over all symmetry-allowed mean-field states, we map out a phase diagram—featuring six distinct phases—of the nearest-neighbor Heisenberg Hamiltonian on the trellis lattice. Among these, we find four quasi-one-dimensional QSL phases, one dimer phase, and one Dirac QSL phase. Going beyond mean field, we also assess equal-time and dynamical spin structure factors of these phases using density-matrix renormalization group and Keldysh pseudofermion functional renormalization group calculations and compare qualitative momentum-space features of these spectra with those obtained at the mean-field level. Finally, we identify four cuprate and vanadate compounds as promising experimental realizations and provide spectroscopic predictions, based on first-principles Hamiltonians, as a guide for future neutron-scattering studies on these materials.