Dilution Effects in Two-Dimensional Quantum Orbital Systems

Abstract

Interacting orbital degrees of freedom in a Mott insulator are essentially directional and frustrated. In this Letter, the effect of dilution in a quantum-orbital system with this kind of interaction is studied by analyzing a minimal orbital model which we call the two-dimensional quantum compass model. We find that the decrease of the ordering temperature due to dilution is stronger than that in spin models, but it is also much weaker than that of the classical model. The difference between the classical and the quantum-orbital systems arises from the enhancement of the effective dimensionality due to quantum fluctuations.