Dynamical ground state in the XY pyrochlore Yb2GaSbO7

P M Sarte; K Cruz-Kan; B R Ortiz; K H Hong; M M Bordelon; D Reig-I-Plessis; M Lee; E S Choi; M B Stone; S Calder; D M Pajerowski; L Mangin-Thro; Y Qiu; J P Attfield; S D Wilson; C Stock; H D Zhou; A M Hallas; J A M Paddison; A A Aczel; C R Wiebe

doi:10.1038/s41535-021-00343-4

Dynamical ground state in the XY pyrochlore Yb₂GaSbO₇

NPJ Quantum Mater. 2021;6(1):10.1038/s41535-021-00343-4. doi: 10.1038/s41535-021-00343-4.

Authors

P M Sarte^{1

2

3

4}, K Cruz-Kan⁵, B R Ortiz^{1

2}, K H Hong^{3

4}, M M Bordelon², D Reig-I-Plessis^{6

7}, M Lee^{8

9

10}, E S Choi⁹, M B Stone¹¹, S Calder¹¹, D M Pajerowski¹¹, L Mangin-Thro¹², Y Qiu¹³, J P Attfield^{3

4}, S D Wilson^{1

2}, C Stock¹⁴, H D Zhou¹⁵, A M Hallas^{6

7}, J A M Paddison^{16

17}, A A Aczel^{11

15}, C R Wiebe^{5

18}

Affiliations

¹ California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6105, USA.
² Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5050, USA.
³ School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FJ, United Kingdom.
⁴ Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
⁷ Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
⁸ Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA.
⁹ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA.
¹⁰ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
¹¹ Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
¹² Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France.
¹³ NIST Center for Neutron Research, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-6102, USA.
¹⁴ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
¹⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
¹⁶ Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
¹⁷ Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada.

Abstract

The magnetic ground state of the pyrochlore Yb₂GaSbO₇ has remained an enigma for nearly a decade. The persistent spin fluctuations observed by muon spin relaxation measurements at low temperatures have not been adequately explained for this material using existing theories for quantum magnetism. Here we report on the synthesis and characterisation of Yb₂GaSbO₇ to elucidate the central physics at play. Through DC and AC magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and neutron scattering experiments, we observe evidence for a dynamical ground state that makes Yb₂GaSbO₇ a promising candidate for disorder-induced spin-liquid or spin-singlet behaviour. This state is quite fragile, being tuned to a splayed ferromagnet in a modest magnetic field $μ_{0} H_{c} \sim 1.5 T$ .

Grants and funding

9999-NIST/ImNIST/Intramural NIST DOC/United States