Abstract
A quantum spin liquid (QSL) is an exotic state in which electron spins are highly entangled, yet keep fluctuating even at zero temperature. Experimental realization of model QSLs has been challenging due to imperfections, such as antisite disorder, strain, and extra or a lack of interactions in real materials compared to the model Hamiltonian. Here we report the magnetic susceptibility, thermodynamic, inelastic neutron scattering (INS), and muon-spin relaxation studies on a polycrystalline sample of PrZnAl11O19, where the Pr3+ ions form an ideal two-dimensional triangular lattice. Our results demonstrate that this system does not order nor freeze, but keeps fluctuating down to 50 mK despite large antiferromagnetic couplings (∼-10 K). Furthermore, the INS and specific-heat data suggest that PrZnAl11O19 is best described as a gapless QSL.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 134428 |
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Volume | 106 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2022 |
Funding
We thank J. Xu for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the NSF of China with Grants No. 12004270, No. 11874158, and No. 92065203, the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2019A1515110517), and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong with General Research Fund Grant No. 17306520. A portion of this work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy. We gratefully acknowledge the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for Xpress access to neutron beam time on MERLIN at ISIS. Part of this work was based on experiments performed at the Swiss Muon Source , Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland.