Evidence for a three-dimensional quantum spin liquid in PbCuTe2O6

Shravani Chillal (), Yasir Iqbal, Harald O. Jeschke, Jose A. Rodriguez-Rivera, Robert Bewley, Pascal Manuel, Dmitry Khalyavin, Paul Steffens, Ronny Thomale, A. T. M. Nazmul Islam, Johannes Reuther and Bella Lake
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Shravani Chillal: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Yasir Iqbal: Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Harald O. Jeschke: Okayama University
Jose A. Rodriguez-Rivera: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Robert Bewley: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Pascal Manuel: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Dmitry Khalyavin: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Paul Steffens: Institut Laue-Langevin
Ronny Thomale: Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland
A. T. M. Nazmul Islam: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Johannes Reuther: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Bella Lake: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The quantum spin liquid is a highly entangled magnetic state characterized by the absence of static magnetism in its ground state. Instead, the spins fluctuate in a highly correlated way down to the lowest temperatures. Quantum spin liquids are very rare and are confined to a few specific cases where the interactions between the magnetic ions cannot be simultaneously satisfied (known as frustration). Lattices with magnetic ions in triangular or tetrahedral arrangements, which interact via isotropic antiferromagnetic interactions, can generate such a frustration. Three-dimensional isotropic spin liquids have mostly been sought in materials where the magnetic ions form pyrochlore or hyperkagome lattices. Here we present a three-dimensional lattice called the hyper-hyperkagome that enables spin liquid behaviour and manifests in the compound PbCuTe2O6. Using a combination of experiment and theory, we show that this system exhibits signs of being a quantum spin liquid with no detectable static magnetism together with the presence of diffuse continua in the magnetic spectrum suggestive of fractional spinon excitations.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15594-1

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