Abstract
We use neutron scattering to show that ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism coexist in the low T state of the pyrochlore quantum magnet Yb2Ti2O7. While magnetic Bragg peaks evidence long-range static ferromagnetic order, inelastic scattering shows that short-range correlated antiferromagnetism is also present. Small-angle neutron scattering provides direct evidence for mesoscale magnetic structure that we associate with metastable antiferromagnetism. Classical Monte Carlo simulations based on exchange interactions inferred from h111i-oriented high-field spin wave measurements confirm that antiferromagnetism is metastable within the otherwise ferromagnetic ground state. The apparent lack of coherent spin wave excitations and strong sensitivity to quenched disorder characterizing Yb2Ti2O7 is a consequence of this multiphase magnetism.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 27245-27254 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 117 |
| Issue number | 44 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 3 2020 |
Funding
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This work was supported as part of the Institute for Quantum Matter, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0019331. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A.S. and C.B. were supported through the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation under the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) program GBMF-4532. H.J.C. was supported by startup funds from Florida State University and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. H.J.C. thanks the Research Computing Cluster at Florida State University and Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) (Allocation DMR190020) for computational resources. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF/DMR-1644779 and the state of Florida. We are grateful to Sunil Sinha for pointing out Eq. 4. We acknowledge helpful discussions with Lisa Debeer-Schmidt, Ken Littrell, Roderich Moessner, Jeff Rau, Nic Shannon, Sunil Sinha, and Oleg Tchernyshyov. This article has been authored by UT-Batelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this article, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This work was supported as part of the Institute for Quantum Matter, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0019331. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A.S. and C.B. were supported through the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation under the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) program GBMF-4532. H.J.C. was supported by startup funds from Florida State University and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. H.J.C. thanks the Research Computing Cluster at Florida State University and Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) (Allocation DMR190020) for computational resources. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF/DMR-1644779 and the state of Florida. We are grateful to Sunil Sinha for pointing out Eq. 4. We acknowledge helpful discussions with Lisa Debeer-Schmidt, Ken Littrell, Roderich Moessner, Jeff Rau, Nic Shannon, Sunil Sinha, and Oleg Tchernyshyov. This article has been authored by UT-Batelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this article, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
Keywords
- Frustrated magnetism
- Neutron scattering
- Phase transitions
- Pyrochlore