Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D3LiIr2O6

Published

March 29, 2025

Author(s)

Thomas Halloran, Yishu Wang, Kemp Plumb, M. B. Stone, Barry Winn, M. K. Graves-Brook, Jose Rodriguez Rivera, Yiming Qiu, Prashant Chauhan, Johannes Knolle, Roderich Moessner, N. Armitage, Tomohiro Takayama, Hidenori Takagi, Collin L. Broholm

Abstract

Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements of powder D3(7Li)(193Ir)2O6 reveal low energy magnetic excitations with a scattering cross-section that is broad in ∣Q∣ and energy transfer. The magnetic nature of the excitation spectrum is demonstrated by longitudinally polarized neutron scattering. The total magnetic moment of 1.8(4)μB/Ir inferred from the observed magnetic scattering cross-section is consistent with the effective moment inferred from magnetic susceptibility data and expectations for the Jeff = 1/2 single ion state. The rise in the dynamic correlation function S(Q,ω) for ℏω < 5 meV can be described by a simple model assuming nearest-neighbor anisotropic spin exchange, such as that found in the Kitaev model. Exchange disorder associated with the D site likely plays an important role in stabilizing the low T quantum fluctuating state1,2.

Citation

npj Quantum Materials

Volume

10

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5

Local Download

Keywords

Magnetism, Neutron Scattering, Quantum spin liquid, Kitaev spin liquid, Iridates

Citation

Halloran, T. , Wang, Y. , Plumb, K. , Stone, M. , Winn, B. , Graves-Brook, M. , Rodriguez Rivera, J. , Qiu, Y. , Chauhan, P. , Knolle, J. , Moessner, R. , Armitage, N. , Takayama, T. , Takagi, H. and Broholm, C. (2025), Continuum of magnetic excitations in the Kitaev honeycomb iridate D3LiIr2O6, npj Quantum Materials, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-025-00748-5, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=957432 (Accessed October 10, 2025)