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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

Abstract

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.

Authors:
 [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
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
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 Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contributing Org.:
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1372316
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1368419; OSTI ID: 1466704
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0014039; AC02-06CH11357; GBMF4374; EAR-1606856; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 96; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; frustrated magnetism; magnetic phase transitions; magnetic insulators; x-ray resonant magnetic scattering; condensed matter and materials physics

Citation Formats

Breznay, Nicholas P., Ruiz, Alejandro, Frano, Alex, Bi, Wenli, Birgeneau, Robert J., Haskel, Daniel, and Analytis, James G. Resonant x-ray scattering reveals possible disappearance of magnetic order under hydrostatic pressure in the Kitaev candidate γ-Li2IrO3. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.96.020402.
Breznay, Nicholas P., Ruiz, Alejandro, Frano, Alex, Bi, Wenli, Birgeneau, Robert J., Haskel, Daniel, & Analytis, James G. Resonant x-ray scattering reveals possible disappearance of magnetic order under hydrostatic pressure in the Kitaev candidate γ-Li2IrO3. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.020402
Breznay, Nicholas P., Ruiz, Alejandro, Frano, Alex, Bi, Wenli, Birgeneau, Robert J., Haskel, Daniel, and Analytis, James G. Wed . "Resonant x-ray scattering reveals possible disappearance of magnetic order under hydrostatic pressure in the Kitaev candidate γ-Li2IrO3". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.020402. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1372316.
@article{osti_1372316,
title = {Resonant x-ray scattering reveals possible disappearance of magnetic order under hydrostatic pressure in the Kitaev candidate γ-Li2IrO3},
author = {Breznay, Nicholas P. and Ruiz, Alejandro and Frano, Alex and Bi, Wenli and Birgeneau, Robert J. and Haskel, Daniel and Analytis, James G.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.96.020402},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 2,
volume = 96,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 05 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Wed Jul 05 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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