Chiral three-spin interactions can suppress long-range magnetic order
and stabilize quantum spin liquid states in frustrated lattices. We
study a spin-1/2 model on the kagome lattice involving a staggered
three-spin interaction J_\chiJχ
in addition to
Heisenberg exchange couplings J_1J1
on nearest-neighbor bonds and J_dJd
across the diagonals of the hexagons. We explore the phase diagram using
a combination of a classical approach, parton mean-field theory, and
variational Monte Carlo methods. We obtain a variety of noncoplanar
magnetic orders, including a phase that interpolates between cuboc-1 and
cuboc-2 states. In the regime of dominant J_{\chi}Jχ,
we find a classically disordered region and argue that it may harbor a
gapless chiral spin liquid with a spinon Fermi surface. Our results show
that the competition between the staggered three-spin interaction and
Heisenberg exchange interactions gives rise to unusual ground states of
spin systems.
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