Momentum-independent magnetic excitation continuum in the honeycomb iridate H3LiIr2O6
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- Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
Understanding the interplay between the inherent disorder and the correlated fluctuating-spin ground state is a key element in the search for quantum spin liquids. H3LiIr2O6 is considered to be a spin liquid that is proximate to the Kitaev-limit quantum spin liquid. Its ground state shows no magnetic order or spin freezing as expected for the spin liquid state. However, hydrogen zero-point motion and stacking faults are known to be present. The resulting bond disorder has been invoked to explain the existence of unexpected low-energy spin excitations, although data interpretation remains challenging. Here, we use resonant X-ray spectroscopies to map the collective excitations in H3LiIr2O6 and characterize its magnetic state. In the low-temperature correlated state, we reveal a broad bandwidth of magnetic excitations. The central energy and the high-energy tail of the continuum are consistent with expectations for dominant ferromagnetic Kitaev interactions between dynamically fluctuating spins. Furthermore, the absence of a momentum dependence to these excitations are consistent with disorder-induced broken translational invariance. Our low-energy data and the energy and width of the crystal field excitations support an interpretation of H3LiIr2O6 as a disordered topological spin liquid in close proximity to bond-disordered versions of the Kitaev quantum spin liquid.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS); Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; AC02-06CH11357; SC0021265
- OSTI ID:
- 1995855
- Journal Information:
- Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 14; ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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