Abstract
The interplay between itinerant electrons and local magnetic moments in quantum materials brings about rich and fascinating phenomena and stimulates various developments in the theoretical framework. In this work, thermodynamic, electric transport, and neutron diffraction measurements were performed on a newly synthesized honeycomb lattice magnet TmNi3Al9. Based on the experimental data, a magnetic-field-temperature phase diagram was constructed, exhibiting three essentially different magnetic regions. Below TN=2.97±0.02KTm3+, moments order antiferromagnetically in zero field. We found that the Tm3+ ions form a pseudodoublet ground state with the Ising-like moments lying normal to the two-dimensional honeycomb layers. Application of a magnetic field along the easy axis gradually suppresses the antiferromagnetic order in favor of an induced ferromagnetic state above the critical field Bc=0.92±0.05T. In the vicinity of Bc, a strong enhancement of the quantum spin fluctuations was observed. The quantum Ising nature of the local moments and the coupling to itinerant electrons are discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 054434 |
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Volume | 106 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2022 |
Funding
The research at SUSTech was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 12134020, No. 11974157, No. 12174175, and No. 12104255), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2021B1515120015), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grants No. 2021YFA1400400). This work was also supported by Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Advanced Quantum Functional Materials and Devices (Grant No. ZDSYS20190902092905285), and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No. KQTD20200820113047086). The work is further supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grants No. 2018YFE0103200 and No. 2021YFA1400300), by Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (Grant No. 2019SHZDZX04), and by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong with General Research Fund (Grant No. 17306520). The Major Science and Technology Infrastructure Project of Material Genome Big-science Facilities Platform supported by Municipal Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen. Neutron diffraction measurements used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.