Continuum of quantum fluctuations in a three-dimensional S = 1 Heisenberg magnet

K. W. Plumb; Hitesh J. Changlani; A. Scheie; Shu Zhang; J. W. Krizan; J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera; Yiming Qiu; B. Winn; R. J. Cava; C. L. Broholm

doi:10.1038/s41567-018-0317-3

Continuum of quantum fluctuations in a three-dimensional S = 1 Heisenberg magnet

K. W. Plumb, Hitesh J. Changlani, A. Scheie, Shu Zhang, J. W. Krizan, J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera, Yiming Qiu, B. Winn, R. J. Cava, C. L. Broholm

Direct Geometry

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64 Scopus citations

Abstract

Conventional crystalline magnets are characterized by symmetry breaking and normal modes of excitation called magnons, with quantized angular momentum ħ. Neutron scattering correspondingly features extra magnetic Bragg diffraction at low temperatures and dispersive inelastic scattering associated with single magnon creation and annihilation. Exceptions are anticipated in so-called quantum spin liquids, as exemplified by the one-dimensional spin-1/2 chain, which has no magnetic order and where magnons accordingly fractionalize into spinons with angular momentum ħ/2. This is spectacularly revealed by a continuum of inelastic neutron scattering associated with two-spinon processes. Here, we report evidence for these key features of a quantum spin liquid in the three-dimensional antiferromagnet NaCaNi ₂ F ₇ . We show that despite the complication of random Na ¹⁺ –Ca ²⁺ charge disorder, NaCaNi ₂ F ₇ is an almost ideal realization of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice. Magnetic Bragg diffraction is absent and 90% of the neutron spectral weight forms a continuum of magnetic scattering with low-energy pinch points, indicating NaCaNi ₂ F ₇ is in a Coulomb-like phase. Our results demonstrate that disorder can act to freeze only the lowest-energy magnetic degrees of freedom; at higher energies, a magnetic excitation continuum characteristic of fractionalized excitations persists.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	54-59
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Physics
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0317-3
State	Published - Jan 1 2019

Funding

We are grateful to Y. Wan for enlightening discussions. This work benefited from many discussions with, and insights passed by, O. Tchernyshyov. We would also like to thank R. Moessner, J. Chalker and S. Todadri for critical reading of this manuscript. Work at the Institute for Quantum Matter was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Material Sciences and Engineering under grant DE-FG02-08ER46544. A.S. and C.B. were funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation under the EPIQS program GBMF no. 4532. 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-1508249. 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. This work was supported by the Paul Scherrer Institut by providing the supermirror analyser as a temporary loan to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We gratefully acknowledge the Johns Hopkins Homewood High Performance Cluster (HHPC) and the Maryland Advanced Research Computing Center (MARCC), funded by the State of Maryland, for computing resources.

Funders	Funder number
Division of Material Sciences and Engineering	DE-FG02-08ER46544
HHPC
Johns Hopkins Homewood High Performance Cluster
Maryland Advanced Research Computing Center
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
State of Maryland
US Department of Energy
National Science Foundation	1508249
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation	4532

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title = "Continuum of quantum fluctuations in a three-dimensional S = 1 Heisenberg magnet",

abstract = " Conventional crystalline magnets are characterized by symmetry breaking and normal modes of excitation called magnons, with quantized angular momentum ħ. Neutron scattering correspondingly features extra magnetic Bragg diffraction at low temperatures and dispersive inelastic scattering associated with single magnon creation and annihilation. Exceptions are anticipated in so-called quantum spin liquids, as exemplified by the one-dimensional spin-1/2 chain, which has no magnetic order and where magnons accordingly fractionalize into spinons with angular momentum ħ/2. This is spectacularly revealed by a continuum of inelastic neutron scattering associated with two-spinon processes. Here, we report evidence for these key features of a quantum spin liquid in the three-dimensional antiferromagnet NaCaNi 2 F 7 . We show that despite the complication of random Na 1+ –Ca 2+ charge disorder, NaCaNi 2 F 7 is an almost ideal realization of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice. Magnetic Bragg diffraction is absent and 90% of the neutron spectral weight forms a continuum of magnetic scattering with low-energy pinch points, indicating NaCaNi 2 F 7 is in a Coulomb-like phase. Our results demonstrate that disorder can act to freeze only the lowest-energy magnetic degrees of freedom; at higher energies, a magnetic excitation continuum characteristic of fractionalized excitations persists.",

author = "Plumb, {K. W.} and Changlani, {Hitesh J.} and A. Scheie and Shu Zhang and Krizan, {J. W.} and Rodriguez-Rivera, {J. A.} and Yiming Qiu and B. Winn and Cava, {R. J.} and Broholm, {C. L.}",

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AU - Krizan, J. W.

AU - Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A.

AU - Qiu, Yiming

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AU - Cava, R. J.

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N2 - Conventional crystalline magnets are characterized by symmetry breaking and normal modes of excitation called magnons, with quantized angular momentum ħ. Neutron scattering correspondingly features extra magnetic Bragg diffraction at low temperatures and dispersive inelastic scattering associated with single magnon creation and annihilation. Exceptions are anticipated in so-called quantum spin liquids, as exemplified by the one-dimensional spin-1/2 chain, which has no magnetic order and where magnons accordingly fractionalize into spinons with angular momentum ħ/2. This is spectacularly revealed by a continuum of inelastic neutron scattering associated with two-spinon processes. Here, we report evidence for these key features of a quantum spin liquid in the three-dimensional antiferromagnet NaCaNi 2 F 7 . We show that despite the complication of random Na 1+ –Ca 2+ charge disorder, NaCaNi 2 F 7 is an almost ideal realization of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice. Magnetic Bragg diffraction is absent and 90% of the neutron spectral weight forms a continuum of magnetic scattering with low-energy pinch points, indicating NaCaNi 2 F 7 is in a Coulomb-like phase. Our results demonstrate that disorder can act to freeze only the lowest-energy magnetic degrees of freedom; at higher energies, a magnetic excitation continuum characteristic of fractionalized excitations persists.

AB - Conventional crystalline magnets are characterized by symmetry breaking and normal modes of excitation called magnons, with quantized angular momentum ħ. Neutron scattering correspondingly features extra magnetic Bragg diffraction at low temperatures and dispersive inelastic scattering associated with single magnon creation and annihilation. Exceptions are anticipated in so-called quantum spin liquids, as exemplified by the one-dimensional spin-1/2 chain, which has no magnetic order and where magnons accordingly fractionalize into spinons with angular momentum ħ/2. This is spectacularly revealed by a continuum of inelastic neutron scattering associated with two-spinon processes. Here, we report evidence for these key features of a quantum spin liquid in the three-dimensional antiferromagnet NaCaNi 2 F 7 . We show that despite the complication of random Na 1+ –Ca 2+ charge disorder, NaCaNi 2 F 7 is an almost ideal realization of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice. Magnetic Bragg diffraction is absent and 90% of the neutron spectral weight forms a continuum of magnetic scattering with low-energy pinch points, indicating NaCaNi 2 F 7 is in a Coulomb-like phase. Our results demonstrate that disorder can act to freeze only the lowest-energy magnetic degrees of freedom; at higher energies, a magnetic excitation continuum characteristic of fractionalized excitations persists.

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Continuum of quantum fluctuations in a three-dimensional S = 1 Heisenberg magnet

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