Possible Quantum Diffusion of Polaronic Muons in Dy${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ Spin Ice

Abstract

We interpret recent measurements of the zero field muon relaxation rate in the frustrated magnetic pyrochlore Dy${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ as resulting from the quantum diffusion of muons in the substance. In this scenario, the plateau observed at low temperature ($<7$ K) in the relaxation rate is due to coherent tunneling of the muons through a spatially disordered spin state and not to any magnetic fluctuations persisting at low temperature. Two further regimes either side of a maximum relaxation rate at $T^{\ast }=50$ K correspond to a crossover between tunnelling and incoherent activated hopping motion of the muon. Our fit of the experimental data is compared with the case of muonium diffusion in KCl.

15 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Spin Dynamics at Very Low Temperature in Spin Ice Dy${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$
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• Spin Ice: Magnetic Excitations without Monopole Signatures using Muon Spin Rotation
• Monopoles, magnetricity and the stray field from spin ice
• A field trip through spin ice
• High-temperature spin relaxation process in Dy${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ probed by ${}^{47}$Ti-NQR
• Calculation of the Expected Zero Field Muon Relaxation Rate in the Geometrically Frustrated Rare Earth Pyrochlore Gd2Sn2O7 Antiferromagnet

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Unconventional Magnetic Ground State in Yb${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$
• Thermodynamic properties of the Yb2Ti2O7 pyrochlore as a function of temperature and magnetic field: validation of a quantum spin ice exchange Hamiltonian
• New physics in frustrated magnets: Spin ices, monopoles, etc
• Evidence for unidimensional low-energy excitations as the origin of persistent spin dynamics in geometrically frustrated magnets
• AC Wien effect in spin ice, manifest in non-linear non-equilibrium susceptibility
• An irreversible magnetic-field dependence of low-temperature heat transport of spin-ice compound Dy_2Ti_2O_7 in a [111] field
• Muon diffusion and electronic magnetism in Y${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$