A Measure of Monopole Inertia in the Quantum Spin Ice Yb$_{2}$Ti$_{2}$O$_{7}$

ORAL

Abstract

We report a time domain terahertz spectroscopy study of quantum spin ice material Yb$_{2}$Ti$_{2}$O$_{7}$. We measure the complex dynamic susceptibility of Yb$_{2}$Ti$_{2}$O$_{7}$ in the temperature range between 1.4K and 20K. The data are consistent with a picture where the emergent magnetic monopoles are the principle degrees of freedom. Among other measures, we observe a zero crossing in the real part of the frequency dependent susceptibility. Such a feature is not possible without introducing inertial effects e.g. a mass dependent term to the equations of motion. Through a comparison of the magnetic spectral weight with numerical data that estimates the low temperature monopole density, we derive a value for the magnetic monopole mass.

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Authors

  • LiDong Pan

    • Institute for Quantum Matter, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University,

  • N. J. Laurita

    • Institute for Quantum Matter, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University,

  • Kate A. Ross

    • Institute for Quantum Matter, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University; NIST Center for Neutron Research

  • Edwin Kermarrec

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University

  • Bruce D. Gaulin

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy; and Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, McMaster University; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

  • N. Peter Armitage

    • Institute for Quantum Matter, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University,