Abstract
The quantum spin liquid is a highly entangled magnetic state characterized by the absence of static magnetism in its ground state. Instead, the spins fluctuate in a highly correlated way down to the lowest temperatures. Quantum spin liquids are very rare and are confined to a few specific cases where the interactions between the magnetic ions cannot be simultaneously satisfied (known as frustration). Lattices with magnetic ions in triangular or tetrahedral arrangements, which interact via isotropic antiferromagnetic interactions, can generate such a frustration. Three-dimensional isotropic spin liquids have mostly been sought in materials where the magnetic ions form pyrochlore or hyperkagome lattices. Here we present a three-dimensional lattice called the hyper-hyperkagome that enables spin liquid behaviour and manifests in the compound PbCuTe2O6. Using a combination of experiment and theory, we show that this system exhibits signs of being a quantum spin liquid with no detectable static magnetism together with the presence of diffuse continua in the magnetic spectrum suggestive of fractional spinon excitations.
Highlights
The quantum spin liquid is a highly entangled magnetic state characterized by the absence of static magnetism in its ground state
In the context of spin systems, a paradigmatic example of fractionalisation occurs for the one-dimensional (1D) magnet formed from half-integer spin magnetic ions coupled by isotropic antiferromagnetic interactions
Spinons occur as excitations of quantum spin liquids - which have no static magnetism even at
Summary
The quantum spin liquid is a highly entangled magnetic state characterized by the absence of static magnetism in its ground state. In the context of spin systems, a paradigmatic example of fractionalisation occurs for the one-dimensional (1D) magnet formed from half-integer spin magnetic ions coupled by isotropic antiferromagnetic interactions. In this system, the spins cannot order at any temperature T > 0 K, and they exhibit exotic excitation spectra. 1 2 moments form a highly frustrated network of cornersharing triangles and the excitations form broad, diffuse and dispersionless ring-like features suggestive of multi-spinon continua This behaviour is in stark contrast to the spin-wave excitations characterised by spin S = 1 which are observed as sharp modes in magnets with conventional static magnetic order
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