Quantum Spin Fragmentation in Kagome Ice Ho3Mg2Sb3O14

ORAL

Abstract

A promising route to realize entangled magnetic states combines geometrical frustration with quantum tunneling effects. Spin-ice materials are canonical examples of frustration, and Ising spins in a transverse magnetic field are the simplest many-body model of quantum tunneling. Here, we show that the tripod kagome lattice material Ho3Mg2Sb3O14 unites an ice-like magnetic degeneracy with quantum-tunneling terms generated by an intrinsic splitting of the Ho3+ ground-state doublet, realizing a frustrated transverse Ising model. Using neutron scattering and thermodynamic experiments, we observe a symmetry-breaking transition at 0.32 K to a remarkable quantum spin-fragmented states with strongly reduced ordered/local moment. Using exact diagonalization and mean-field calculation, we demonstrate that whereas the transverse field tends to drive the system into a spin-liquid state with zero on-site moment, the hyperfine interaction helps to stabilize the fragmented local moments. Our results establish that Ho3Mg2Sb3O14 realizes a quantum spin-fragmented state on the kagome lattice.

*The work at Georgia Tech was sponsored by the Department of Energy under grant DE-SC-0018660.

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Presenters

  • Xiaojian Bai

    • School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Georgia Institute of Technology

Authors

  • Zhiling Dun

    • School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Georgia Institute of Technology
    • School of Physics, Georgia Tech
    • University of Tennessee
    • Department of Physics, University of Tennessee

  • Xiaojian Bai

    • School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Joseph Paddison

    • Churchill College, University of Cambridge
    • Cambridge
    • University of Cambridge
    • Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Univserity of Cambridge
    • Department of Physics, University of Cambridge

  • Emily Hollingworth

    • School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Franz Demmel

    • ISIS facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
    • ISIS Neutron Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

  • Nicholas Butch

    • NIST Center for Neutron Research
    • Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • NIST
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • University of Maryland, College Park & NIST

  • Clarina Dela Cruz

    • Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  • Matthew Brandon Stone

    • Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Oak Ridge National Lab
    • Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  • Tao Hong

    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Neutron Scattering Division, Oak-Ridge National Laboratory
    • Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Martin Mourigal

    • School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Georgia Institute of Technology
    • School of Physics, Georgia Tech

  • Haidong Zhou

    • University of Tennessee
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, United States
    • Physics, University of Tennessee
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • Department of Physics, University of Tennessee