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Title: Beyond magnons in Nd2ScNbO7: An Ising pyrochlore antiferromagnet with all-in–all-out order and random fields

Abstract

We report the low-temperature magnetic properties of Nd3+ pyrochlore Nd2ScNbO7. Susceptibility and magnetization show an easy-axis moment, and heat capacity reveals a phase transition to long-range order at TN=371(2) mK with a fully recovered ΔS=Rln(2), 53% of it recovered for T>TN. Elastic neutron scattering shows a long-range all-in all-out magnetic order with low-Q diffuse elastic scattering. Inelastic neutron scattering shows a low-energy flat band, indicating a magnetic Hamiltonian similar to Nd2Zr2O7. Nuclear hyperfine excitations measured by ultra-high-resolution neutron backscattering indicate a distribution of static electronic moments below TN, which may be due to B-site disorder influencing Nd crystal electric fields. Analysis of heat-capacity data shows an unexpected T-linear or T3/2 term which is inconsistent with conventional magnon quasiparticles, but is consistent with fractionalized spinons or gapless local spin excitations. We use legacy data to show similar behavior in Nd2Zr2O7. Comparing local static moments also reveals a suppression of the nuclear Schottky anomaly in temperature, evidencing a fraction of Nd sites with nearly zero static moment, consistent with exchange-disorder-induced random singlet formation. Finally, taken together, these measurements suggest an unusual fluctuating magnetic ground state which mimics a spin liquid, but may not actually be one.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [2];  [4]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
  2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
  4. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1831679
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 104; Journal Issue: 13; 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; phase transitions; quantum spin liquid; specific heat; pyrochlore; neutron diffraction; neutron scattering; quasi elastic neutron scattering

Citation Formats

Scheie, Allen, Sanders, Marisa, Gui, Xin, Qiu, Yiming, Prisk, T. R., Cava, Robert, and Broholm, Collin L. Beyond magnons in Nd2ScNbO7: An Ising pyrochlore antiferromagnet with all-in–all-out order and random fields. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevb.104.134418.
Scheie, Allen, Sanders, Marisa, Gui, Xin, Qiu, Yiming, Prisk, T. R., Cava, Robert, & Broholm, Collin L. Beyond magnons in Nd2ScNbO7: An Ising pyrochlore antiferromagnet with all-in–all-out order and random fields. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.104.134418
Scheie, Allen, Sanders, Marisa, Gui, Xin, Qiu, Yiming, Prisk, T. R., Cava, Robert, and Broholm, Collin L. Wed . "Beyond magnons in Nd2ScNbO7: An Ising pyrochlore antiferromagnet with all-in–all-out order and random fields". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.104.134418. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1831679.
@article{osti_1831679,
title = {Beyond magnons in Nd2ScNbO7: An Ising pyrochlore antiferromagnet with all-in–all-out order and random fields},
author = {Scheie, Allen and Sanders, Marisa and Gui, Xin and Qiu, Yiming and Prisk, T. R. and Cava, Robert and Broholm, Collin L.},
abstractNote = {We report the low-temperature magnetic properties of Nd3+ pyrochlore Nd2ScNbO7. Susceptibility and magnetization show an easy-axis moment, and heat capacity reveals a phase transition to long-range order at TN=371(2) mK with a fully recovered ΔS=Rln(2), 53% of it recovered for T>TN. Elastic neutron scattering shows a long-range all-in all-out magnetic order with low-Q diffuse elastic scattering. Inelastic neutron scattering shows a low-energy flat band, indicating a magnetic Hamiltonian similar to Nd2Zr2O7. Nuclear hyperfine excitations measured by ultra-high-resolution neutron backscattering indicate a distribution of static electronic moments below TN, which may be due to B-site disorder influencing Nd crystal electric fields. Analysis of heat-capacity data shows an unexpected T-linear or T3/2 term which is inconsistent with conventional magnon quasiparticles, but is consistent with fractionalized spinons or gapless local spin excitations. We use legacy data to show similar behavior in Nd2Zr2O7. Comparing local static moments also reveals a suppression of the nuclear Schottky anomaly in temperature, evidencing a fraction of Nd sites with nearly zero static moment, consistent with exchange-disorder-induced random singlet formation. Finally, taken together, these measurements suggest an unusual fluctuating magnetic ground state which mimics a spin liquid, but may not actually be one.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevb.104.134418},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 13,
volume = 104,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Wed Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

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