Quantum spin liquid (QSL) is a novel state of matter which refuses the conventional spin freezing even at 0 K. Experimentally searching for the structurally perfect candidates is a big challenge in condensed matter physics. Here we report the successful synthesis of a new spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO$_4$ with R$\bar{3}$m symmetry. The compound with an ideal two-dimensional and spatial isotropic magnetic triangular-lattice has no site-mixing magnetic defects and no antisymmetric Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interactions. No spin freezing down to 60 mK (despite $Θ$$_w$ $\sim$ -4 K), the low-T power-law temperature dependence of heat capacity and nonzero susceptibility suggest that YbMgGaO$_4$ is a promising gapless ($\leq$ $|$$Θ$$_w$$|$/100) QSL candidate. The residual spin entropy, which is accurately determined with a non-magnetic reference LuMgGaO$_4$, approaches zero ($<$ 0.6 \%). This indicates that the possible QSL ground state (GS) of the frustrated spin system has been experimentally achieved at the lowest measurement temperatures.
We report magnetization, heat capacity, thermal expansion, and magnetostriction measurements down to millikelvin temperatures on the triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO$_4$. Our data exclude the formation of the distinct $\frac13$ plateau phase observed in other triangular antiferromagnets, but reveal plateaulike features in second derivatives of the free energy, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat, at $μ_0H$ = 1.0 - 2.5 T for $H\parallel{}c$ and 2 - 5 T for $H\perp{}c$. Using Monte-Carlo simulations of a realistic spin Hamiltonian, we ascribe these features to nonmonotonic changes in the…
Motivated by a recent inelastic neutron scattering experiment on $\mathrm{YbMgGaO}_4$ \cite{William2019}, we reinvestigate the homogeneous spin model on the triangular lattice. Using the cluster mean-field theory, we study the phase diagram and the magnetic-field-induced phase transition. We find that the phase boundary between the stripe state and the $120^{\circ}$ antiferromagnetic state is broadened by the magnetic field, leading to a field-induced phase transition. This phase transition is suppressed by the next-nearest neighbor exchange interaction $J_2/J_1$ and vanishes as $J_2/J_1>0.13$…
We report results of muon spin relaxation and rotation ($μ$SR) experiments on the spin-liquid candidate~YbMgGaO$_{4}$. No static magnetism $\gtrsim 0.003μ_B$ per Yb ion, ordered or disordered, is observed down to 22~mK, a factor of two lower in temperature than previous measurements. Persistent (temperature-independent) spin dynamics are observed up to 0.20~K and at least 1~kOe, thus extending previous zero-field $μ$SR results over a substantial region of the $H$-$T$ phase diagram. Knight shift measurements in a 10-kOe transverse field reveal two lines with nearly equal amplitudes. Inhomogeneo…
A recent focus of quantum spin liquid (QSL) studies is how disorder/randomness in a QSL candidate affects its true magnetic ground state. The ultimate question is whether the QSL survives disorder or the disorder leads to a "spin-liquid-like" state, such as the proposed random-singlet (RS) state. Since disorder is a standard feature of most QSL candidates, this question represents a major challenge for QSL candidates. YbMgGaO$_4$, a triangular lattice antiferromagnet with effective spin-1/2 Yb$^{3+}$ ions, is an ideal system to address this question, since it shows no long-range magnetic order…
We demonstrate that the new single crystal of YCu$_3$[OH(D)]$_{6.5}$Br$_{2.5}$ (YCOB) is a kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet (KHA) without evident orphan spins ($\ll$ 0.8\%). The site mixing between polar OH$^-$ and non-polar Br$^-$ causes local distortions of Cu-O-Cu exchange paths, and gives rise to 70(2)\% of randomly distributed hexagons of alternate bonds ($\sim$ $J_1-ΔJ$ and $J_1+ΔJ$) and the rest of almost uniform hexagons ($\sim$ $J_1$) on the kagome lattice. Simulations of the random exchange model with $ΔJ$/$J_1$ = 0.7(1) show good agreement with the experimental observations, includ…
We present the ultralow-temperature specific heat and thermal conductivity measurements on single crystals of triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Na$_2$BaCo(PO$_4$)$_2$, which was recently argued to host itinerant fermionic excitations, like a quantum spin liquid, above its antiferromagnetic phase transition temperature $T_{\rm N}$ = 0.148 K. In specific heat measurements, we confirm the peaks due to antiferromagnetic ordering when magnetic field $μ_0 H \leq$ 1 T, roughly consistent with previous work [N. Li $et$ $al.$, Nat. Commun. 11, 4216 (2020)]. However, in thermal conductivity measurement…
We report a comprehensive investigation of the magnetism of the $S$ = 3/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet, $α$-CrOOH(D) (delafossites green-grey powder). The nearly Heisenberg antiferromagnetic Hamiltonian ($J_1$ $\sim$ 23.5 K) with a weak single-ion anisotropy of $|D|$/$J_1$ $\sim$ 4.6% is quantitatively determined by fitting to the electron spin resonance (ESR) linewidth and susceptibility measured at high temperatures. The weak single-ion anisotropy interactions, possibly along with other perturbations, e.g. next-nearest-neighbor interactions, suppress the long-range magnetic order and r…
Gapless Magnetic and Quasiparticle Excitations due to the Coexistence of Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity in CeRhIn$_5$ : A study of $^{115}$In-NQR under Pressure
A fundamental problem posed from the study of correlated electron compounds, of which heavy-fermion systems are prototypes, is the need to understand the physics of states near a quantum critical point (QCP). At a QCP, magnetic order is suppressed continuously to zero temperature and unconventional superconductivity often appears. Here, we report pressure ($P$) -dependent $^{115}$In nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements on heavy-fermion antiferromagnet CeRh$_{0.5}$Ir$_{0.5}$In$_5$. These experiments reveal an antiferromagnetic (AF) QCP at $P_{\rm c}^{\rm AF}$ = 1.2 GPa where a dome o…
We report on the 63/65Cu-nuclear magnetic resonance and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) studies of trivalent Yb zigzag chain compound YbCuS2. Sharp NQR signals were observed in the paramagnetic (PM) state. Below TO = 0.95 K, the multi peaks induced by the internal magnetic fields arising from the antferromagnetic (AFM) ordered moments appear and coexist with the PM signal down to 0.85 K, evidencing the first-order AFM phase transition at TO. In addition, the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 abruptly decreases below TO and shows the T-linear behavior below 0.5 K. The significant lar…
We study a three-leg spin-1/2 ladder with geometrically frustrated interleg interactions. We call this model an anisotropic triangular-strip (ATS) model. We numerically and field-theoretically show that its ground state belongs to a gapless symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase. The numerical approach is based on density-matrix renormalization group analyses of the entanglement entropy and the entanglement spectrum. Whereas the entanglement entropy exhibits a critical behavior, the entanglement spectrum is nontrivially degenerate. These entanglement properties imply that the ground state …
Formation of gapless triplets in the bond-doped spin-gap antiferromagnet (C$_4$H$_{12}$N$_2$)(Cu$_2$Cl$_6$)
本文报道了用电子自旋共振（ESR）方法研究了一种自旋带隙反铁磁体（C $_4$ H $_{12}$ N $_2$）（Cu $_2$ Cl $_6$）（昵称PHCC）的结果，其中氯离子部分被溴取代.我们发现，高达10%的标称掺杂的随机缺陷的吸收光谱的贡献保持在约0.1%，每个铜离子，几乎相同的纯系统。相反，在具有高标称溴含量x> 5%的样品中，在低温下观察到对应于无间隙S=1三重态的特定类型的ESR吸收。溴浓度的增加也导致ESR吸收线的系统性加宽，表明准粒子寿命的减少。
Randomness-induced quantum spin liquid behavior in the $s=$1/2 bond-random Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the pyrochlore lattice
利用精确对角化和Hams-de Raedt方法研究了焦绿石晶格上键随机$s=1/2$ Heisenberg反铁磁体的零温和有限温性质.我们发现这种随机性导致了无带隙的量子自旋液体（QSL）态，即随机单重态。本文讨论了对最近实验的启示，即混合阴离子焦绿石晶格反铁磁体Lu $_2$ Mo $_2$ O $_5$ N $_2$表现出无带隙QSL行为。
The nature of the zero-temperature phase diagram of the spin-$1/2$ $J_1$-$J_2$ Heisenberg model on a square lattice has been debated in the past three decades, which may hold the key to understand high temperature superconductivity. By using the state-of-the-art tensor network method, specifically, the finite projected entangled pair state (PEPS) algorithm, to simulate the global phase diagram the $J_1$-$J_2$ Heisenberg model up to $24\times 24$ sites, we provide very solid evidences to show that the nature of the intermediate nonmagnetic phase is a gapless quantum spin liquid (QSL), whose spi…
The quantum spin liquid (QSL) state is an exotic state of matter featuring a high degree of entanglement and lack of long-range magnetic order in the zero-temperature limit. The triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO4 is a candidate QSL host, and precise determination of the Hamiltonian parameters is critical to understanding the nature of the possible ground states. However, the presence of chemical disorder has made directly measuring these parameters challenging. Here we report neutron scattering and magnetic susceptibility measurements covering a broad range of applied magnetic field at low te…
Field-Induced Instability of a Gapless Spin Liquid with a Spinon Fermi Surface
量子kagome反铁磁体Zn-brochantite，ZnCu $_3$（OH）$_6$ SO $_4$的基态，是仅有的几个已知的二维或三维自旋液体（SL）实现之一，已被描述为具有自旋费米表面的无隙SL。采用核磁共振在一个广泛的磁场范围下降到毫开尔文温度，我们表明，在施加的磁场这种神秘的状态本质上是不稳定的SL与一个完整的或部分的差距。一个类似的不稳定性的无隙费米表面SL以前遇到的有机三角晶格反铁磁体，这表明一个共同的不稳定机制，最有可能产生的自旋配对。这种不稳定性的一个显著特性是，一个无穷小的领域足以诱导它，理论上预测的一些其他类型的无间隙SL的。
Using Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on a two-dimensional lattice formed by coupling diagonal ladders. The model hosts an antiferromagnetic Néel phase, a rung singlet product phase, and a topological none trivial Haldane phase, separated by two quantum phase transitions. We show that the two quantum critical points are all in the three-dimensional O(3) universality class. The properties of the two gapped phases, including the finite-size behavior of the string orders in the Haldane phase, are studied. We show that the surface formed by the ladders ends …
Spin excitation of the Heisenberg antiferromagnet with frustration: from the bounce-lattice antiferromagnet through the maple-leaf-lattice antiferromagnet to the exact-dimer system
Graduate School of Science, University of Hyogo（兵库大学理学研究科）；National Institute for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) SPring-8（量子科学技术研究开发机构SPring-8）
