Infrared phonons as a probe of a spin-liquid states in herbertsmithite
  ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2

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Abstract

We report on temperature dependence of the infrared reflectivity spectra of a single crystalline herbertsmithite in two polarizations --- parallel and perpendicular to the kagome plane of Cu atoms. We observe anomalous broadening of the low frequency phonons possibly caused by fluctuations in the exotic dynamical magnetic order of the spin liquid.

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Resonating valence bonds: A new kind of insulator?

P.W. Anderson (1973)

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Fractionalized excitations in the spin liquid state of a kagom\'{e} lattice antiferromagnet

Young Lee, Collin Broholm, Tian-Heng Han … (2013)

New physics can emerge in magnetic materials where quantum fluctuations are enhanced due to reduced dimensionality and strong frustration. One long sought example is the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) state, where atomic magnetic moments are strongly correlated but do not order or freeze even in the limit of T -> 0. The RVB ground state does not break conventional symmetries, such as lattice translation or spin-rotation. The realization of such a quantum spin liquid in two-dimensions would represent a new state of matter. It is believed that spin liquid physics plays a role in the phenomenon of high-Tc superconductivity, and the topological properties of the spin liquid state may have applications in the field of quantum information. We present neutron scattering measurements of the spin excitations on single crystal samples of the spin-1/2 kagom\'{e} lattice antiferromagnet ZnCu3(OD)6Cl2 (also called herbertsmithite). Our observation of a spinon continuum in a two-dimensional magnet is remarkable first. The results serve as a key fingerprint of the quantum spin liquid state in herbertsmithite.

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Evidence for a Gapped Spin-Liquid Ground State in a Kagome Heisenberg Antiferromagnet

, , … (2015)

The kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet is a leading candidate in the search for a spin system with a quantum spin-liquid ground state. The nature of its ground state remains a matter of great debate. We conducted 17-O single crystal NMR measurements of the S=1/2 kagome lattice in herbertsmithite ZnCu\(_3\)(OH)\(_6\)Cl\(_2\), which is known to exhibit a spinon continuum in the spin excitation spectrum. We demonstrate that the intrinsic local spin susceptibility \(\chi_{kagome}\) deduced from the 17-O NMR frequency shift asymptotes to zero below temperature T ~ 0.03 J, where J ~ 200 K is the Cu-Cu super-exchange interaction. Combined with the magnetic field dependence of \(\chi_{kagome}\) we observed at low temperatures, these results imply that the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet has a spin-liquid ground state with a finite gap.