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Breakdown of magnons in a strongly spin-orbital coupled magnet
- Source :
- Nature Communications, Nature Communications, Nature Publishing Group, 2017, 8 (1), ⟨10.1038/s41467-017-01177-0⟩, Winter, SM; Riedl, K; Maksimov, PA; Chernyshev, AL; Honecker, A; & Valentí, R. (2017). Breakdown of magnons in a strongly spin-orbital coupled magnet. Nature Communications, 8(1), 1152. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01177-0. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7489s7gz, Nature Communications, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- HAL CCSD, 2017.
-
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 $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$, 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 anharmoniticity that naturally occurs in such materials. This scenario fully explains the observed inelastic magnetic response of $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ and reveals the presence of nontrivial excitations in such materials extending well beyond the Kitaev state.<br />Comment: Final version; supplemental information included
- Subjects :
- Science
Mathematics::General Topology
FOS: Physical sciences
General Physics and Astronomy
02 engineering and technology
01 natural sciences
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Article
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons
Computer Science::Emerging Technologies
0103 physical sciences
ddc:530
[PHYS.COND]Physics [physics]/Condensed Matter [cond-mat]
lcsh:Science
010306 general physics
ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS
Physics
Mathematics::Combinatorics
Multidisciplinary
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
Spins
Continuum (measurement)
Condensed matter physics
Magnon
Anharmonicity
General Chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Magnet
Quasiparticle
lcsh:Q
Quantum spin liquid
cond-mat.str-el
0210 nano-technology
Excitation
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20411723
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Communications, Nature Communications, Nature Publishing Group, 2017, 8 (1), ⟨10.1038/s41467-017-01177-0⟩, Winter, SM; Riedl, K; Maksimov, PA; Chernyshev, AL; Honecker, A; & Valentí, R. (2017). Breakdown of magnons in a strongly spin-orbital coupled magnet. Nature Communications, 8(1), 1152. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01177-0. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7489s7gz, Nature Communications, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f064c42eecc98ab3eaabe41bdcf97d58