Materializing rival ground states in the barlowite family of kagome magnets: quantum spin liquid, spin ordered, and valence bond crystal states
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
The spin- kagome antiferromagnet is considered an ideal host for a quantum spin liquid ground state. We find that when the bonds of the kagome lattice are modulated with a periodic pattern, new quantum ground states emerge. Newly synthesized crystalline barlowite (Cu4(OH)6FBr) and Zn-substituted barlowite demonstrate the delicate interplay between singlet states and spin order on the spin- kagome lattice. Comprehensive structural measurements demonstrate that our new variant of barlowite maintains hexagonal symmetry at low temperatures with an arrangement of distorted and undistorted kagome triangles, for which numerical simulations predict a pinwheel va- lence bond crystal (VBC) state instead of a quantum spin liquid (QSL). The presence of interlayer spins eventually leads to an interesting pinwheel q=0 magnetic order. Partially Zn-substituted bar- lowite (Cu3.44Zn0.56(OH)6FBr) has an ideal kagome lattice and shows QSL behavior, indicating a surprising robustness of the QSL against interlayer impurities. The magnetic susceptibility is simi- lar to that of herbertsmithite, even though the Cu2+ impurities are above the percolation threshold for the interlayer lattice and they couple more strongly to the nearest kagome moment. This system is a unique playground displaying QSL, VBC, and spin order, furthering our understanding of these highly competitive quantum states.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231; AC02-06CH11357; CHE-1834750; DMR-1531283; ECCS-1542152; DGE-1656518
- OSTI ID:
- 1617810
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1602253
- Journal Information:
- npj Quantum Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 1; ISSN 2397-4648
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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