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  • Letter

Possible Dirac quantum spin liquid in the kagome quantum antiferromagnet YCu3(OH)6Br2[Brx(OH)1−x]

Zhenyuan Zeng, Xiaoyan Ma, Si Wu, Hai-Feng Li, Zhen Tao, Xingye Lu, Xiao-hui Chen, Jin-Xiao Mi, Shi-Jie Song, Guang-Han Cao, Guangwei Che, Kuo Li, Gang Li, Huiqian Luo, Zi Yang Meng, and Shiliang Li
Phys. Rev. B 105, L121109 – Published 15 March 2022
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    Abstract

    We studied the magnetic properties of YCu3(OH)6Br2[Br1−x(OH)x] (x = 0.33), where Cu2+ ions form two-dimensional kagome layers. There is no magnetic order down to 50 mK, while the Curie-Weiss temperature is on the order of −100 K. At zero magnetic field, the low-temperature specific heat shows a T2 dependence. Above 2 T, a linear temperature dependence term in specific heat emerges, and the value of γ=C/T increases linearly with the field. Furthermore, the magnetic susceptibility tends to a constant value at T=0. Our results suggest that the magnetic ground state of YCu3(OH)6Br2[Br1−x(OH)x] is consistent with a Dirac quantum-spin-liquid state with a linearly dispersing spinon strongly coupled to an emergent gauge field, which has long been theoretically proposed as a candidate ground state in the two-dimensional kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnetic system.

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    • Received 27 July 2021
    • Revised 27 February 2022
    • Accepted 28 February 2022

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.L121109

    ©2022 American Physical Society

    Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

    1. Research Areas
    Quantum spin liquid
    1. Physical Systems
    Kagome lattice
    1. Techniques
    Specific heat measurements
    Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

    Authors & Affiliations

    Zhenyuan Zeng1,2, Xiaoyan Ma1,2, Si Wu3, Hai-Feng Li3,*, Zhen Tao4, Xingye Lu4, Xiao-hui Chen5, Jin-Xiao Mi5, Shi-Jie Song6, Guang-Han Cao6,7,8, Guangwei Che9, Kuo Li9, Gang Li1,10, Huiqian Luo1,10, Zi Yang Meng1,11, and Shiliang Li1,2,10,†

    • 1Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
    • 2School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
    • 3Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao SAR 999078, China
    • 4Center for Advanced Quantum Studies and Department of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    • 5Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (Xiamen University), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Materials, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
    • 6Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
    • 7Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Technology and Devices, Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, and State Key Lab of Silicon Materials, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
    • 8Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
    • 9Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research, 10 Xibeiwang East Road, Haidian, Beijing 100094, China
    • 10Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong 523808, China
    • 11Department of Physics and HKU-UCAS Joint Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China

    • *haifengli@um.edu.mo
    • †slli@iphy.ac.cn

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    Issue

    Vol. 105, Iss. 12 — 15 March 2022

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    Images

    • Figure 1
      Figure 1

      (a) The crystal structure of YCu3(OH)6[Br0.33(OH)0.67] in which hydrogens are not shown. The solid lines represent the unit cell. (b) The kagome plane of Cu2+ ions viewed along the c axis. The other atoms are shown in only one unit cell. (c) The temperature dependence of the inverse of the magnetic susceptibility χ−1. The solid line is a linear fit for the high-temperature data. (d) The temperature dependence of the specific heat C in the log-log scale. The arrow indicates the shoulder of the low-temperature specific heat. The inset shows a photo of several samples on the platform of the specific-heat puck.

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    • Figure 2
      Figure 2

      (a) The temperature dependence of C/T below 2 K at 0 T. The solid line is the fitted result as described in the main text. (b) and (c) The temperature dependence of C/T at different fields for YCu3-H and YCu3-D, respectively. (d) The field dependence of γ. The solid lines are fitted results with the linear function.

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    • Figure 3
      Figure 3

      (a) and (b) The M−H loops for YCu3-H at different temperatures for H//c and H//ab, respectively. (c) The temperature dependence of M at 1000 Oe. The samples were randomly oriented to put more samples in the capsule to gain a better signal. (d) The temperature dependence of M at 1000 Oe for the unwashed YCu3-H samples. The backgrounds in the measurements are different for different field directions.

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