Field-Induced Freezing of a Quantum Spin Liquid on the Kagome Lattice

M. Jeong, F. Bert, P. Mendels, F. Duc, J. C. Trombe, M. A. de Vries, and A. Harrison
Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 237201 – Published 28 November 2011
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Abstract

We report O17 NMR measurements in the S=1/2(Cu2+) kagome antiferromagnet Herbertsmithite ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2 down to 45 mK in magnetic fields ranging from 2 to 12 T. While Herbertsmithite displays a gapless spin-liquid behavior in zero field, we uncover an instability toward a spin-solid phase at sub-Kelvin temperature induced by an applied magnetic field. The latter phase shows largely suppressed moments 0.1μB and gapped excitations. The HT phase diagram suggests the existence of a quantum critical point at the small but finite magnetic field μ0Hc=1.55(25)T. We discuss this finding in light of the perturbative Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction which was theoretically proposed to sustain a quantum critical regime for the quantum kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet model.

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  • Received 26 July 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.237201

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. Jeong1, F. Bert1, P. Mendels1, F. Duc2,3, J. C. Trombe2, M. A. de Vries4,5, and A. Harrison4,6

  • 1Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud 11, UMR CNRS 8502, 91405 Orsay, France
  • 2Centre d’Élaboration des Matériaux et d’Études Structurales, CNRS UPR 8011, 31055 Toulouse, France
  • 3Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, CNRS UPR 3228, F-31400 Toulouse, France
  • 4CSEC and School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
  • 5School of Physics and Astronomy, E.C. Stoner Laboratory, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
  • 6Institut Laue-Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, F-38042 Grenoble, France

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Issue

Vol. 107, Iss. 23 — 2 December 2011

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