Abstract
The spiral spin liquid (SSL) is a highly degenerate state characterized by a continuous contour or surface in reciprocal space spanned by a spiral propagation vector. Although the SSL state has been predicted in a number of various theoretical models, very few materials are so far experimentally identified to host such a state. Via combined single-crystal wide-angle and small-angle neutron scattering, we report observation of the SSL in the quasi-two-dimensional delafossite-like AgCrSe2. We show that it is a very close realization of the ideal Heisenberg J1–J2–J3 frustrated model on the triangular lattice. By supplementing our experimental results with microscopic spin-dynamics simulations, we demonstrate how such exotic magnetic states are driven by thermal fluctuations and exchange frustration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2619 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2025 |
Funding
We thank V. Hasse for technical support in crystal growth. We acknowledge financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, from the European Research Council under the grant Hyper Quantum Criticality (HyperQC). N.D.A. and D.S.I. are greatful for support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1143 (project # 247310070); through the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence on Complexity and Topology in Quantum Materials — ct.qmat (EXC 2147, Project No. 390858490). This work is based on experiments performed at the Swiss spallation neutron source SINQ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland. M.C.R. is grateful for support through the Emmy-Noether program of the DFG (project-id 501391385).