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Field-Induced Instability of a Gapless Spin Liquid with a Spinon Fermi Surface.
- Source :
-
Physical Review Letters . 9/29/2017, Vol. 119 Issue 13, p1-1. 1p. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- The ground state of the quantum kagome antiferromagnet Zn-brochantite, ZnCu3(OH)6SO4, which is one of only a few known spin-liquid (SL) realizations in two or three dimensions, has been described as a gapless SL with a spinon Fermi surface. Employing nuclear magnetic resonance in a broad magnetic-field range down to millikelvin temperatures, we show that in applied magnetic fields this enigmatic state is intrinsically unstable against a SL with a full or a partial gap. A similar instability of the gapless Fermi-surface SL was previously encountered in an organic triangular-lattice antiferromagnet, suggesting a common destabilization mechanism that most likely arises from spinon pairing. A salient property of this instability is that an infinitesimal field suffices to induce it, as predicted theoretically for some other types of gapless SLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00319007
- Volume :
- 119
- Issue :
- 13
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Physical Review Letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 125476464
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.137205