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Title: Resonant x-ray scattering reveals possible disappearance of magnetic order under hydrostatic pressure in the Kitaev candidate γ - Li 2 IrO 3

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Science Division
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source; Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Geology
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source

Honeycomb iridates such as γ-Li2IrO3 are argued to realize Kitaev spin-anisotropic magnetic exchange, along with Heisenberg and possibly other couplings. While systems with pure Kitaev interactions are candidates to realize a quantum spin-liquid ground state, in γ-Li2IrO3 it has been shown that the presence of competing magnetic interactions leads to an incommensurate spiral spin order at ambient pressure below 38 K. We study the pressure sensitivity of this magnetically ordered state in single crystals of γ-Li2IrO3 using resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) under applied hydrostatic pressures of up to 3 GPa. RXS is a direct probe of electronic order, and we observe the abrupt disappearance of the qsp=(0.57,0,0) spiral order at a critical pressure Pc=1.4 GPa with no accompanying change in the symmetry of the lattice.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contributing Organization:
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014039; AC02-06CH11357; GBMF4374; EAR-1606856; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1372316
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1368419; OSTI ID: 1466704
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 96, Issue 2; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 32 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

Correlated states in β-Li2IrO3 driven by applied magnetic fields journal October 2017
Lattice dynamics and structural transition of the hyperhoneycomb iridate β Li 2 IrO 3 investigated by high-pressure Raman scattering journal February 2020
X-ray magnetic diffraction under high pressure journal June 2019
Pressure-Tuned Interactions in Frustrated Magnets: Pathway to Quantum Spin Liquids? journal December 2019
Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism text January 2017