Field-tunable quantum disordered ground state in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet NaYbO2

Bordelon, Mitchell M.; Kenney, Eric; Liu, Chunxiao; Hogan, Tom; Posthuma, Lorenzo; Kavand, Marzieh; Lyu, Yuanqi; Sherwin, Mark; Butch, N. P.; Brown, Craig; Graf, M. J.; Balents, Leon; Wilson, Stephen D.

doi:10.1038/s41567-019-0594-5

Title: Field-tunable quantum disordered ground state in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet NaYbO₂

Journal Article · 29 July 2019 · Nature Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0594-5 · OSTI ID:1574464

^[1]; Kenney, Eric ^[2]; Liu, Chunxiao ^[3]; Hogan, Tom ^[4]; Posthuma, Lorenzo ^[1]; Kavand, Marzieh ^[5]; Lyu, Yuanqi ^[5]; Sherwin, Mark ^[5]; Butch, N. P. ^[6];

^[7];

^[2]; Balents, Leon ^[8];

^[1]

Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Materials Dept.
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
Quantum Design, Inc., San Diego, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Center for Terahertz Science and Technology
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research; Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Theoretical Physics

Antiferromagnetically coupled S=1/2 spins on an isotropic triangular lattice is the paradigm of frustrated quantum magnetism, but structurally ideal realizations are rare. In this work, we investigate NaYbO₂, which hosts an ideal triangular lattice of J_eff=1/2 moments with no inherent site disorder. No signatures of conventional magnetic order appear down to 50 mK, strongly suggesting a quantum spin liquid ground state. We observe a two-peak specific heat and a nearly quadratic temperature dependence in accord with expectations for a two-dimensional Dirac spin liquid. Application of a magnetic field strongly perturbs the quantum disordered ground state and induces a clear transition into a collinear ordered state consistent with a long-predicted “up-up-down” structure for a triangular lattice XXZ Hamiltonian driven by quantum fluctuations. Moreover, the observation of spin liquid signatures in zero field and quantum-induced ordering in intermediate fields in the same compound demonstrate an intrinsically quantum disordered ground state. We conclude that NaYbO₂ is a model, versatile platform for exploring spin liquid physics with full tunability of field and temperature.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0017752; FG02-08ER46524

OSTI ID:: 1574464

Journal Information:: Nature Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 10; ISSN 1745-2473

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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