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Title: Evidence for a spinon Fermi surface in a triangular-lattice quantum-spin-liquid candidate

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20614· OSTI ID:1335366
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [8];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
  2. Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing (China)
  3. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab., ISIS Neutron Source
  4. Inst. Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble (France)
  5. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), (Germany). German Research Centre for Materials and Energy
  6. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
  7. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  8. China Inst. of Atomic Energy (CIAE), Beijing (China)

A quantum spin liquid is an exotic quantum state of matter in which spins are highly entangled and remain disordered down to zero temperature. Such a state of matter is potentially relevant to high-temperature superconductivity and quantum-information applications, and experimental identification of a quantum spin liquid state is of fundamental importance for our understanding of quantum matter. Theoretical studies have proposed various quantum-spin-liquid ground states, most of which are characterized by exotic spin excitations with fractional quantum numbers (termed ‘spinons’). In this paper, we report neutron scattering measurements of the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet YbMgGaO4 that reveal broad spin excitations covering a wide region of the Brillouin zone. The observed diffusive spin excitation persists at the lowest measured energy and shows a clear upper excitation edge, consistent with the particle–hole excitation of a spinon Fermi surface. Finally, our results therefore point to the existence of a quantum spin liquid state with a spinon Fermi surface in YbMgGaO4, which has a perfect spin-1/2 triangular lattice as in the original proposal of quantum spin liquids.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR); Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Key R&D Program of the MOST (China); Ministry of Science and Technology (China); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Contributing Organization:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy, Berlin (Germany); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States); China Inst. of Atomic Energy (CIAE), Beijing (China); Renmin Univ. of China, Beijing (China); Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing (China); Inst. Laue-Langevin, Grenoble (France); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Chilton (United Kingdom)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; 2016YFA0300203; 2015CB921302; 91421106; 2016YFA0300504
OSTI ID:
1335366
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Vol. 540; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 214 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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YbMgGaO 4 : A Triangular‐Lattice Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate journal October 2019
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Quasi-continuous transition from a Fermi liquid to a spin liquid in κ-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3 journal January 2018
Spin-lattice decoupling in a triangular-lattice quantum spin liquid journal April 2018
Fractionalized excitations in the partially magnetized spin liquid candidate YbMgGaO4 journal October 2018
Intertwined dipolar and multipolar order in the triangular-lattice magnet TmMgGaO4 journal October 2019
Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids journal April 2019
Experimental signatures of emergent quantum electrodynamics in Pr2Hf2O7 journal April 2018
Experimental signatures of a three-dimensional quantum spin liquid in effective spin-1/2 Ce2Zr2O7 pyrochlore journal July 2019
Field-tunable quantum disordered ground state in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet NaYbO2 journal July 2019
Quantum magnetisms in uniform triangular lattices Li2AMo3O8 (A = In, Sc) journal February 2019
Metal-ion induced ferromagnetic polarization in a mixed-spin system journal January 2017
REZnAl 11 O 19 (RE = Pr, Nd, Sm–Tb): a new family of ideal 2D triangular lattice frustrated magnets journal January 2019
Strong quantum fluctuations in a quantum spin liquid candidate with a Co-based triangular lattice journal July 2019
Quantum magnetism in minerals journal July 2018
Rare-Earth Chalcogenides: A Large Family of Triangular Lattice Spin Liquid Candidates journal October 2018
Nature of the randomness-induced quantum spin liquids in two dimensions journal September 2019
Spin-liquid-like state in pure and Mn-doped TbInO 3 with a nearly triangular lattice journal July 2019
Magnetic field-dependent low-energy magnon dynamics in α RuCl 3 journal August 2019
Gapless spin-liquid state in the structurally disorder-free triangular antiferromagnet NaYbO 2 journal October 2019
Local entanglement and confinement transitions in the random transverse-field Ising model on the pyrochlore lattice journal October 2019
Cyclotron resonance inside the Mott gap: A fingerprint of emergent neutral fermions journal October 2019
Field-induced magnetic transition and spin fluctuations in the quantum spin-liquid candidate CsYbSe 2 journal December 2019
Anisotropic field-induced ordering in the triangular-lattice quantum spin liquid NaYbSe 2 journal December 2019
Collective spinon spin wave in a magnetized U(1) spin liquid journal January 2020
Dynamical slave-boson mean-field study of the Mott transition in the Hubbard model in the large- z limit journal January 2020
Kitaev materials beyond iridates: Order by quantum disorder and Weyl magnons in rare-earth double perovskites journal February 2017
Ground-state phase diagram of an anisotropic spin- 1 2 model on the triangular lattice journal April 2017
Spinon Fermi surface U ( 1 ) spin liquid in the spin-orbit-coupled triangular-lattice Mott insulator YbMgGaO 4 journal August 2017
Detecting spin fractionalization in a spinon Fermi surface spin liquid journal August 2017
Gapless excitations in the ground state of 1 T TaS 2 journal November 2017
Frustration and anisotropic exchange in ytterbium magnets with edge-shared octahedra journal August 2018
Quantum magnetic properties of the spin- 1 2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Ba 2 La 2 CoTe 2 O 12 journal November 2018
NaYbS 2 : A planar spin- 1 2 triangular-lattice magnet and putative spin liquid journal December 2018
Kagome bands disguised in a coloring-triangle lattice journal March 2019
Field-induced instability of the quantum spin liquid ground state in the J eff = 1 2 triangular-lattice compound NaYbO 2 journal May 2019
The two-dimensional metallic triangular lattice antiferromagnet CeCd 3 P 3 journal June 2019
Crystalline Electric-Field Randomness in the Triangular Lattice Spin-Liquid YbMgGaO 4 journal March 2017
Field-Induced Instability of a Gapless Spin Liquid with a Spinon Fermi Surface journal September 2017
Spin-Glass Ground State in a Triangular-Lattice Compound YbZnGaO 4 journal February 2018
Topography of Spin Liquids on a Triangular Lattice journal May 2018
Spinon Fermi Surface in a Cluster Mott Insulator Model on a Triangular Lattice and Possible Application to 1 T Ta S 2 journal July 2018
Resolving Continua of Fractional Excitations by Spinon Echo in THz 2D Coherent Spectroscopy journal June 2019
Absence of Magnetic Thermal Conductivity in the Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate EtMe 3 Sb [ Pd ( dmit ) 2 ] 2 journal December 2019
Synthesis, magnetization, and heat capacity of triangular lattice materials NaErSe 2 and KErSe 2 journal November 2019
Topological thermal Hall effect of magnetic monopoles in the pyrochlore U(1) spin liquid journal January 2020
Pr 2 Ir 2 O 7 : When Luttinger Semimetal Meets Melko-Hertog-Gingras Spin Ice State journal December 2018
Anisotropic-Exchange Magnets on a Triangular Lattice: Spin Waves, Accidental Degeneracies, and Dual Spin Liquids journal April 2019
Quantum spin liquids journal January 2020
Spin Liquid versus Spin Orbit Coupling on the Triangular Lattice journal January 2018
Frustrated Magnetism in Triangular Lattice TlYbS2 Crystals Grown via Molten Flux journal February 2020
Thermodynamic, Dynamic, and Transport Properties of Quantum Spin Liquid in Herbertsmithite from an Experimental and Theoretical Point of View journal August 2019
Kitaev materials beyond iridates: order by quantum disorder and Weyl magnons in rare-earth double perovskites text January 2016
A new high-temperature quantum spin liquid with polaron spins text January 2017
Nearest-neighbor resonating valence bonds in YbMgGaO4 text January 2017
Spin Liquid versus Spin Orbit Coupling on the Triangular Lattice text January 2017
Quantum Magnetism in Minerals text January 2018
Intertwined dipolar and multipolar order in the triangular-lattice magnet TmMgGaO$_4$ text January 2018
Anisotropic-Exchange Magnets on a Triangular Lattice: Spin Waves, Accidental Degeneracies, and Dual Spin Liquids text January 2018
Experimental signatures of a three-dimensional quantum spin liquid in effective spin-1/2 Ce2Zr2O7 pyrochlore text January 2019
Quantum magnetisms in uniform triangular lattices Li2AMo3O8 (A = In, Sc) text January 2019
Quantum Spin Liquids text January 2019
Resolving continua of fractional excitations by spinon echo in THz 2D coherent spectroscopy text January 2019
Nature of the randomness-induced quantum spin liquids in two dimensions text January 2019
Frustrated Magnetism in Triangular Lattice TlYbS$_2$ Crystals Grown via Molten Flux text January 2020
Quantum-disordered state of magnetic and electric dipoles in an organic Mott system journal November 2017
Kosterlitz-Thouless Melting of Magnetic Order in the Triangular Quantum Ising Material TmMgGaO$_4$ text January 2019

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