Publication Date:
2016-12-22
Description:
Evidence for a spinon Fermi surface in a triangular-lattice quantum-spin-liquid candidate Nature 540, 7634 (2016). doi:10.1038/nature20614 Authors: Yao Shen, Yao-Dong Li, Hongliang Wo, Yuesheng Li, Shoudong Shen, Bingying Pan, Qisi Wang, H. C. Walker, P. Steffens, M. Boehm, Yiqing Hao, D. L. Quintero-Castro, L. W. Harriger, M. D. Frontzek, Lijie Hao, Siqin Meng, Qingming Zhang, Gang Chen & Jun Zhao A quantum spin liquid is an exotic quantum state of matter in which spins are highly entangled and remain disordered down to zero temperature. Such a state of matter is potentially relevant to high-temperature superconductivity and quantum-information applications, and experimental identification of a quantum spin liquid state is of fundamental importance for our understanding of quantum matter. Theoretical studies have proposed various quantum-spin-liquid ground states, most of which are characterized by exotic spin excitations with fractional quantum numbers (termed ‘spinons’). Here we report neutron scattering measurements of the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet YbMgGaO4 that reveal broad spin excitations covering a wide region of the Brillouin zone. The observed diffusive spin excitation persists at the lowest measured energy and shows a clear upper excitation edge, consistent with the particle–hole excitation of a spinon Fermi surface. Our results therefore point to the existence of a quantum spin liquid state with a spinon Fermi surface in YbMgGaO4, which has a perfect spin-1/2 triangular lattice as in the original proposal of quantum spin liquids.
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Medicine
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Natural Sciences in General
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Physics
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