Quadrupolar magnetic excitations in an isotropic spin-1 antiferromagnet

A. Nag (), A. Nocera (), S. Agrestini, M. Garcia-Fernandez, A. C. Walters, Sang-Wook Cheong, S. Johnston () and Ke-Jin Zhou ()
Additional contact information
A. Nag: Diamond Light Source
A. Nocera: University of British Columbia
S. Agrestini: Diamond Light Source
M. Garcia-Fernandez: Diamond Light Source
A. C. Walters: Diamond Light Source
Sang-Wook Cheong: Rutgers University
S. Johnston: The University of Tennessee
Ke-Jin Zhou: Diamond Light Source

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The microscopic origins of emergent behaviours in condensed matter systems are encoded in their excitations. In ordinary magnetic materials, single spin-flips give rise to collective dipolar magnetic excitations called magnons. Likewise, multiple spin-flips can give rise to multipolar magnetic excitations in magnetic materials with spin S ≥ 1. Unfortunately, since most experimental probes are governed by dipolar selection rules, collective multipolar excitations have generally remained elusive. For instance, only dipolar magnetic excitations have been observed in isotropic S = 1 Haldane spin systems. Here, we unveil a hidden quadrupolar constituent of the spin dynamics in antiferromagnetic S = 1 Haldane chain material Y2BaNiO5 using Ni L3-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering. Our results demonstrate that pure quadrupolar magnetic excitations can be probed without direct interactions with dipolar excitations or anisotropic perturbations. Originating from on-site double spin-flip processes, the quadrupolar magnetic excitations in Y2BaNiO5 show a remarkable dual nature of collective dispersion. While one component propagates as non-interacting entities, the other behaves as a bound quadrupolar magnetic wave. This result highlights the rich and largely unexplored physics of higher-order magnetic excitations.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30065-5

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