Hierarchical excitations from correlated spin tetrahedra on the breathing pyrochlore lattice

ORAL

Abstract

The hierarchy of the coupling strengths in a physical system often engenders an effective model at low energies where the decoupled high-energy modes are integrated out. Here, using neutron scattering, we show that the spin excitations in the breathing pyrochlore lattice compound CuInCr4S8 are hierarchical and can be approximated by an effective model of correlated tetrahedra at low energies. At higher energies, intra-tetrahedron excitations together with strong magnon-phonon couplings are observed, which suggests the possible role of the lattice degree of freedom in stabilizing the spin tetrahedra. Our work illustrates the spin dynamics in CuInCr4S8 and demonstrates a general effective cluster approach to understand the dynamics on the breathing-type lattices.

*Research supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), both are DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Publication: S. Gao et al. Phys. Rev. B 103, 214418 (2021)

Presenters

  • Shang Gao

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

Authors

  • Shang Gao

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Andrew F May

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Maohua Du

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Joseph Paddison

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Hasitha Suriya Arachchige

    • University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennesse

  • Ganesh Pokharel

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Clarina R Dela Cruz

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Qiang Zhang

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Georg Ehlers

    • oak ridge national lab

  • David S Parker

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • David G Mandrus

    • University of Tennessee
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37916, USA

  • Matthew B Stone

    • Oak Ridge National Lab
    • Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

  • Andrew Christianson

    • Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, USA
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Oak Ridge National Lab
    • oak ridge national lab