Breakdown of magnons in a strongly spin-orbital coupled magnet

Nature Communications
Stephen M WinterRoser Valentí

Abstract

The description of quantized collective excitations stands as a landmark in the quantum theory of condensed matter. A prominent example occurs in conventional magnets, which support bosonic magnons-quantized harmonic fluctuations of the ordered spins. In striking contrast is the recent discovery that strongly spin-orbital-coupled magnets, such as α-RuCl3, may display a broad excitation continuum inconsistent with conventional magnons. Due to incomplete knowledge of the underlying interactions unraveling the nature of this continuum remains challenging. The most discussed explanation refers to a coherent continuum of fractional excitations analogous to the celebrated Kitaev spin liquid. Here, we present a more general scenario. We propose that the observed continuum represents incoherent excitations originating from strong magnetic anharmonicity that naturally occurs in such materials. This scenario fully explains the observed inelastic magnetic response of α-RuCl3 and reveals the presence of nontrivial excitations in such materials extending well beyond the Kitaev state.

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Citations

Mar 16, 2018·Reports on Progress in Physics·Matthias Vojta
Sep 16, 2017·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Stephen M WinterRoser Valentí
Dec 30, 2017·Physical Review Letters·A LittleJ Orenstein
Jun 10, 2017·Science·Arnab BanerjeeStephen E Nagler
Nov 7, 2018·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Stephan ReschkeAlois Loidl
Jun 11, 2019·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Lukas Janssen, Matthias Vojta
Feb 6, 2020·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Yuesheng LiAlexander A Tsirlin
Feb 13, 2020·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Wenjie WanHenrik M R Ronnow
Feb 15, 2020·Physical Review Letters·Seung-Hwan DoKwang-Yong Choi
May 31, 2019·Physical Review Letters·Kira RiedlRoser Valentí
Jul 28, 2019·Physical Review Letters·Preetha SahaGia-Wei Chern
Jan 18, 2020·Science·C BroholmT Senthil
Sep 12, 2020·Physical Review Letters·S BachusP Gegenwart
Aug 4, 2020·Physical Review Letters·A N PonomaryovS A Zvyagin
Mar 16, 2018·Physical Review Letters·Stephen M WinterRoser Valentí
Aug 17, 2020·Physical Review Letters·Huimei LiuGiniyat Khaliullin
Mar 31, 2018·Physical Review Letters·Richard HentrichChristian Hess
Jun 9, 2018·Physical Review Letters·Y KasaharaY Matsuda
Jan 8, 2021·Physical Review Letters·Joseph A M Paddison
Dec 15, 2020·Chemical Reviews·Daniel I Khomskii, Sergey V Streltsov
Jun 12, 2021·Nature Communications·Haoxiang LiH Miao
Jul 25, 2021·Nature Communications·H SuzukiB Keimer
Aug 10, 2021·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·A LoidlV Tsurkan
Oct 7, 2021·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Chaebin KimJe-Geun Park
Sep 14, 2021·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Chaebin KimJe-Geun Park
Jan 16, 2022·Nature Communications·Kyusung HwangEun-Gook Moon

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
inelastic neutron scattering
AFM
neutron
neutron scattering

Software Mentioned

LSWT

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