Giant Magnetic In-Plane Anisotropy and Competing Instabilities in Na3Co2SbO6

Xintong Li; Yuchen Gu; Yue Chen; V. Ovidiu Garlea; Kazuki Iida; Kazuya Kamazawa; Yangmu Li; Guochu Deng; Qian Xiao; Xiquan Zheng; Zirong Ye; Yingying Peng; I. A. Zaliznyak; J. M. Tranquada; Yuan Li

doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.12.041024

Giant Magnetic In-Plane Anisotropy and Competing Instabilities in Na3Co2SbO6

Xintong Li, Yuchen Gu, Yue Chen, V. Ovidiu Garlea, Kazuki Iida, Kazuya Kamazawa, Yangmu Li, Guochu Deng, Qian Xiao, Xiquan Zheng, Zirong Ye, Yingying Peng, I. A. Zaliznyak, J. M. Tranquada, Yuan Li

Direct Geometry

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25 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report magnetometry data obtained on twin-free single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6, which is considered a candidate material for realizing the Kitaev honeycomb model for quantum spin liquids. Contrary to a common belief that such materials can be modeled with the symmetries of an ideal honeycomb lattice, our data reveal a pronounced twofold symmetry and in-plane anisotropy of over 200%, despite the honeycomb layer's tiny orthorhombic distortion of less than 0.2%. We further use magnetic neutron diffraction to elucidate a rich variety of field-induced phases observed in the magnetometry. These phases manifest themselves in the paramagnetic state as diffuse scattering signals associated with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic instabilities, consistent with a theory that also predicts a quantum spin liquid phase nearby. Our results call for theoretical understanding of the observed in-plane anisotropy and render Na3Co2SbO6 a promising ground for finding exotic quantum phases by targeted external tuning.

Original language	English
Article number	041024
Journal	Physical Review X
Volume	12
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.12.041024
State	Published - Oct 2022

Funding

We are grateful for technical support by Qizhi Li and Jianping Sun and for discussions with Wenjie Chen, Ji Feng, L. Janssen, G. Khaliullin, V. Kocsis, Huimei Liu, Qiang Luo, A. U. B. Wolter, and Shilong Zhang. The work at Peking University was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grants No. 2021YFA1401900 and No. 2018YFA0305602) and the National Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 12061131004, No. 11874069, and No. 11888101). The work at Brookhaven National Laboratory was supported by Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), under Contract No. DE-SC0012704. X. L. further acknowledges support from China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2020M680179). A portion of this research used resources at Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. One of the neutron scattering experiments was performed at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility, J-PARC, Japan, under a user program (No. 2020B0148).

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-SC0012704
Basic Energy Sciences
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering
National Natural Science Foundation of China	11888101, 11874069, 12061131004
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation	2020M680179
National Key Research and Development Program of China	2021YFA1401900, 2018YFA0305602

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title = "Giant Magnetic In-Plane Anisotropy and Competing Instabilities in Na3Co2SbO6",

abstract = "We report magnetometry data obtained on twin-free single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6, which is considered a candidate material for realizing the Kitaev honeycomb model for quantum spin liquids. Contrary to a common belief that such materials can be modeled with the symmetries of an ideal honeycomb lattice, our data reveal a pronounced twofold symmetry and in-plane anisotropy of over 200%, despite the honeycomb layer's tiny orthorhombic distortion of less than 0.2%. We further use magnetic neutron diffraction to elucidate a rich variety of field-induced phases observed in the magnetometry. These phases manifest themselves in the paramagnetic state as diffuse scattering signals associated with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic instabilities, consistent with a theory that also predicts a quantum spin liquid phase nearby. Our results call for theoretical understanding of the observed in-plane anisotropy and render Na3Co2SbO6 a promising ground for finding exotic quantum phases by targeted external tuning.",

author = "Xintong Li and Yuchen Gu and Yue Chen and Garlea, {V. Ovidiu} and Kazuki Iida and Kazuya Kamazawa and Yangmu Li and Guochu Deng and Qian Xiao and Xiquan Zheng and Zirong Ye and Yingying Peng and Zaliznyak, {I. A.} and Tranquada, {J. M.} and Yuan Li",

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AU - Li, Xintong

AU - Gu, Yuchen

AU - Chen, Yue

AU - Garlea, V. Ovidiu

AU - Iida, Kazuki

AU - Kamazawa, Kazuya

AU - Li, Yangmu

AU - Deng, Guochu

AU - Xiao, Qian

AU - Zheng, Xiquan

AU - Ye, Zirong

AU - Peng, Yingying

AU - Zaliznyak, I. A.

AU - Tranquada, J. M.

AU - Li, Yuan

PY - 2022/10

Y1 - 2022/10

N2 - We report magnetometry data obtained on twin-free single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6, which is considered a candidate material for realizing the Kitaev honeycomb model for quantum spin liquids. Contrary to a common belief that such materials can be modeled with the symmetries of an ideal honeycomb lattice, our data reveal a pronounced twofold symmetry and in-plane anisotropy of over 200%, despite the honeycomb layer's tiny orthorhombic distortion of less than 0.2%. We further use magnetic neutron diffraction to elucidate a rich variety of field-induced phases observed in the magnetometry. These phases manifest themselves in the paramagnetic state as diffuse scattering signals associated with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic instabilities, consistent with a theory that also predicts a quantum spin liquid phase nearby. Our results call for theoretical understanding of the observed in-plane anisotropy and render Na3Co2SbO6 a promising ground for finding exotic quantum phases by targeted external tuning.

AB - We report magnetometry data obtained on twin-free single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6, which is considered a candidate material for realizing the Kitaev honeycomb model for quantum spin liquids. Contrary to a common belief that such materials can be modeled with the symmetries of an ideal honeycomb lattice, our data reveal a pronounced twofold symmetry and in-plane anisotropy of over 200%, despite the honeycomb layer's tiny orthorhombic distortion of less than 0.2%. We further use magnetic neutron diffraction to elucidate a rich variety of field-induced phases observed in the magnetometry. These phases manifest themselves in the paramagnetic state as diffuse scattering signals associated with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic instabilities, consistent with a theory that also predicts a quantum spin liquid phase nearby. Our results call for theoretical understanding of the observed in-plane anisotropy and render Na3Co2SbO6 a promising ground for finding exotic quantum phases by targeted external tuning.

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JO - Physical Review X

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Giant Magnetic In-Plane Anisotropy and Competing Instabilities in Na3Co2SbO6

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