Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D3LiIr2O6

Thomas Halloran; Yishu Wang; K. W. Plumb; M. B. Stone; Barry Winn; M. K. Graves-Brook; J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera; Yiming Qiu; Prashant Chauhan; Johannes Knolle; Roderich Moessner; N. P. Armitage; Tomohiro Takayama; Hidenori Takagi; Collin Broholm

doi:10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5

Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D₃LiIr₂O₆

Thomas Halloran, Yishu Wang, K. W. Plumb, M. B. Stone, Barry Winn, M. K. Graves-Brook, J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera, Yiming Qiu, Prashant Chauhan, Johannes Knolle, Roderich Moessner, N. P. Armitage, Tomohiro Takayama, Hidenori Takagi, Collin Broholm

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements of powder D₃(⁷Li)(¹⁹³Ir)₂O₆ reveal low energy magnetic excitations with a scattering cross-section that is broad in ∣Q∣ and energy transfer. The magnetic nature of the excitation spectrum is demonstrated by longitudinally polarized neutron scattering. The total magnetic moment of 1.8(4)μ_B/Ir inferred from the observed magnetic scattering cross-section is consistent with the effective moment inferred from magnetic susceptibility data and expectations for the J_eff = 1/2 single ion state. The rise in the dynamic correlation function S(Q,ω) for ℏω < 5 meV can be described by a simple model assuming nearest-neighbor anisotropic spin exchange, such as that found in the Kitaev model. Exchange disorder associated with the D site likely plays an important role in stabilizing the low T quantum fluctuating state^1,2.

Original language	English
Article number	35
Journal	npj Quantum Materials
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5
State	Published - Dec 2025

Funding

This work was supported as part of the Institute for Quantum Matter, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC0024469. C.B. was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation EPIQS program under GBMF9456. Access to MACS was provided by the Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering, a partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation under Agreement No. DMR-2010792. A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Research in Dresden was in part supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, under Grants No. SFB 1143 (Project No. 247310070) and the cluster of excellence ct.qmat (EXC 2147, Project No. 390858490). J.K. acknowledges support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy- EXC-2111-390814868 and TRR 360 - 492547816, as well as the Munich Quantum Valley, which is supported by the Bavarian state government with funds from the Hightech Agenda Bayern Plus. J.K. also acknowledges support from the Imperial-TUM flagship partnership. Identification of commercial equipment does not imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST.

Access to Document

10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5

Cite this

Halloran, T., Wang, Y., Plumb, K. W., Stone, M. B., Winn, B., Graves-Brook, M. K., Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A., Qiu, Y., Chauhan, P., Knolle, J., Moessner, R., Armitage, N. P., Takayama, T., Takagi, H., & Broholm, C. (2025). Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D₃LiIr₂O₆. npj Quantum Materials, 10(1), Article 35. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5

@article{d88d66a3431f46e491b669e4d2595eb4,

title = "Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D3LiIr2O6",

abstract = "Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements of powder D3(7Li)(193Ir)2O6 reveal low energy magnetic excitations with a scattering cross-section that is broad in ∣Q∣ and energy transfer. The magnetic nature of the excitation spectrum is demonstrated by longitudinally polarized neutron scattering. The total magnetic moment of 1.8(4)μB/Ir inferred from the observed magnetic scattering cross-section is consistent with the effective moment inferred from magnetic susceptibility data and expectations for the Jeff = 1/2 single ion state. The rise in the dynamic correlation function S(Q,ω) for ℏω < 5 meV can be described by a simple model assuming nearest-neighbor anisotropic spin exchange, such as that found in the Kitaev model. Exchange disorder associated with the D site likely plays an important role in stabilizing the low T quantum fluctuating state1,2.",

author = "Thomas Halloran and Yishu Wang and Plumb, \{K. W.\} and Stone, \{M. B.\} and Barry Winn and Graves-Brook, \{M. K.\} and Rodriguez-Rivera, \{J. A.\} and Yiming Qiu and Prashant Chauhan and Johannes Knolle and Roderich Moessner and Armitage, \{N. P.\} and Tomohiro Takayama and Hidenori Takagi and Collin Broholm",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

journal = "npj Quantum Materials",

issn = "2397-4648",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D3LiIr2O6

AU - Halloran, Thomas

AU - Wang, Yishu

AU - Plumb, K. W.

AU - Stone, M. B.

AU - Winn, Barry

AU - Graves-Brook, M. K.

AU - Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A.

AU - Qiu, Yiming

AU - Chauhan, Prashant

AU - Knolle, Johannes

AU - Moessner, Roderich

AU - Armitage, N. P.

AU - Takayama, Tomohiro

AU - Takagi, Hidenori

AU - Broholm, Collin

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements of powder D3(7Li)(193Ir)2O6 reveal low energy magnetic excitations with a scattering cross-section that is broad in ∣Q∣ and energy transfer. The magnetic nature of the excitation spectrum is demonstrated by longitudinally polarized neutron scattering. The total magnetic moment of 1.8(4)μB/Ir inferred from the observed magnetic scattering cross-section is consistent with the effective moment inferred from magnetic susceptibility data and expectations for the Jeff = 1/2 single ion state. The rise in the dynamic correlation function S(Q,ω) for ℏω < 5 meV can be described by a simple model assuming nearest-neighbor anisotropic spin exchange, such as that found in the Kitaev model. Exchange disorder associated with the D site likely plays an important role in stabilizing the low T quantum fluctuating state1,2.

AB - Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements of powder D3(7Li)(193Ir)2O6 reveal low energy magnetic excitations with a scattering cross-section that is broad in ∣Q∣ and energy transfer. The magnetic nature of the excitation spectrum is demonstrated by longitudinally polarized neutron scattering. The total magnetic moment of 1.8(4)μB/Ir inferred from the observed magnetic scattering cross-section is consistent with the effective moment inferred from magnetic susceptibility data and expectations for the Jeff = 1/2 single ion state. The rise in the dynamic correlation function S(Q,ω) for ℏω < 5 meV can be described by a simple model assuming nearest-neighbor anisotropic spin exchange, such as that found in the Kitaev model. Exchange disorder associated with the D site likely plays an important role in stabilizing the low T quantum fluctuating state1,2.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105001502661

U2 - 10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5

DO - 10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105001502661

SN - 2397-4648

VL - 10

JO - npj Quantum Materials

JF - npj Quantum Materials

IS - 1

M1 - 35

ER -

Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D₃LiIr₂O₆

Abstract

Funding

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this