Crystalline Electric Field Randomness in the Triangular Lattice Spin-Liquid YbMgGaO${}_4$

Abstract

We apply moderate-high-energy inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements to investigate Yb${}^{3+}$ crystalline electric field (CEF) levels in the triangular spin-liquid candidate YbMgGaO${}_4$. Three CEF excitations from the ground-state Kramers doublet are centered at the energies $\hslash \omega$ = 39, 61, and 97\,meV in agreement with the effective \mbox{spin-1/2} $g$-factors and experimental heat capacity, but reveal sizable broadening. We argue that this broadening originates from the site mixing between Mg${}^{2+}$ and Ga${}^{3+}$ giving rise to a distribution of Yb--O distances and orientations and, thus, of CEF parameters that account for the peculiar energy profile of the CEF excitations. The CEF randomness gives rise to a distribution of the effective spin-1/2 $g$-factors and explains the unprecedented broadening of low-energy magnetic excitations in the fully polarized ferromagnetic phase of YbMgGaO${}_4$, although a distribution of magnetic couplings due to the Mg/Ga disorder may be important as well.

Accepted in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (37)

• Fractionalized excitations in the spin liquid state of a kagomé lattice antiferromagnet
• Spin Liquid State in an Organic Mott Insulator with Triangular Lattice
• Linear spin wave theory for single-Q incommensurate magnetic structures
• Variational study of triangular lattice spin-1/2 model with ring exchanges and spin liquid state in κ-(ET)_2 Cu_2 (CN)_3
• Continuous excitations of the triangular-lattice quantum spin liquid YbMgGaO4
• U(1) Gauge Theory of the Hubbard Model : Spin Liquid States and Possible Application to k-(BEDT-TTF)_2 Cu_2 (CN)_3
• Quantum Excitations in Quantum Spin Ice
• Rare-earth triangular lattice spin liquid: a single-crystal study of YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Evidence for a spinon Fermi surface in a triangular lattice quantum spin liquid candidate
• Evidence for a Gapped Spin-Liquid Ground State in a Kagome Heisenberg Antiferromagnet
• Gapless quantum spin liquid ground state in the two-dimensional spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Experimental Realization of Spin-1/2 Triangular-Lattice Heisenberg Antiferromagnet
• $\mu$SR evidence for the U(1) quantum spin liquid ground state in the triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya Anisotropy in the Spin-1/2 Kagomé Compound ZnCu${}_3$(OH)${}_6$Cl${}_2$
• Quantum spin liquid states in the two dimensional kagome antiferromagnets, ZnxCu4-x(OD)6Cl2
• An anisotropic spin model of strong spin-orbit-coupled triangular antiferromagnets
• First Order Transition in the Spin Dynamics of Geometrically Frustrated Yb2Ti2O7
• Orbital magnetic field effects in spin liquid with spinon Fermi sea: Possible application to $\kappa$-(ET)${}_2$Cu${}_2$(CN)${}_3$
• Cascade of magnetic-field-induced quantum phase transitions in a spin $1/2$ triangular-lattice antiferromagnet
• Absence of magnetic thermal conductivity in the quantum spin liquid candidate YbMgGaO4
• Gapless spin liquid ground state in the S=1/2 vanadium oxyfluoride kagome antiferromagnet [NH4]2[C7H14N][V7O6F18]
• Lightly stuffed pyrochlore structure of single-crystalline Yb2Ti2O7 grown by the optical floating zone technique
• Magnetic Susceptibility of the Kagome Antiferromagnet ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2
• Neutron Spectroscopic Study of Crystalline Electric Field Excitations in Stochiometric and Lightly Stuffed Yb2Ti2O7
• Absolute cross-section normalization of magnetic neutron scattering data
• Crystal field parameters of the rare earth pyrochlores $R_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ ($R$ = Tb, Dy, Ho)
• Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropy and non-magnetic impurities in the $s=1/2$ kagome system ZnCu_3(OH)_6Cl_2
• Static impurities in the kagome lattice: dimer freezing and mutual repulsion
• Gapless quantum excitations from an Ice-like Splayed Ferromagnetic ground state in stoichiometric Yb2Ti2O7
• Re-entrance of Gapless Quantum Spin Liquids Observed in a Newly Synthesized Spin-1/2 Kagome Antiferromagnet $ZnC{u}_3(OH{)}_{6}S{O}_4$
• The crystalline electric field as a probe for long range antiferromagnetic order and superconductivity in CeFeAsO${}_{1-x}$F${}_x$
• Crystal field states of Tb3+ in the pyrochlore spin liquid Tb2Ti2O7 from neutron spectroscopy
• Neutron spectroscopic study of crystal-field excitations and the effect of the crystal field on dipolar magnetism in Li$R$F${}_4$ ($R$ = Gd, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb)
• $\mu$SR Insight into the Impurity Problem in Quantum Kagome Antiferromagnets
• Transition-metal distribution in kagome antiferromagnet CoCu3(OH)6Cl2 revealed by resonant x-ray diffraction
• Quenched crystal field disorder and magnetic liquid ground states in Tb2Sn2-xTixO7
• Magnetism in the KBaRE(BO3)2 (RE=Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) series: materials with a triangular rare earth lattice

Cited by in corpus (135)

• Quantum Spin Liquids
• Field-tunable quantum disordered ground state in the triangular lattice antiferromagnet NaYbO${}_2$
• Disorder-Induced Mimicry of a Spin Liquid in YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids
• Valence Bonds in Random Quantum Magnets: Theory and Application to YbMgGaO4
• Rare-earth chalcogenides: A large family of triangular lattice spin liquid candidate
• NaYbS${}_2$ - a new planar spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ triangular-lattice magnet and putative spin liquid
• The Chemistry of Quantum Spin Liquids
• Gapless spin-liquid state in the structurally disorder-free triangular antiferromagnet NaYbO${}_2$
• Spin-glass ground state in a triangular-lattice compound YbZnGaO${}_4$
• Anisotropic field-induced ordering in the triangular-lattice quantum spin liquid NaYbSe${}_2$
• Topography of Spin Liquids on a Triangular Lattice
• Field-induced instability of the quantum-spin-liquid ground state in the $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{2}$ triangular-lattice compound NaYbO${}_2$
• Frustration and anisotropic exchange in ytterbium magnets with edge-shared octahedra
• Anisotropic-Exchange Magnets on a Triangular Lattice: Spin Waves, Accidental Degeneracies, and Dual Spin Liquids
• Spinon Fermi surface spin liquid in a triangular lattice antiferromagnet NaYbSe${}_2$
• Field-induced magnetic transition and spin fluctuation in quantum spin liquid candidate CsYbSe${}_2$
• Quantum Magnetism in Minerals
• The Spinon Fermi Surface U(1) Spin Liquid in a Spin-Orbit-Coupled Triangular Lattice Mott Insulator YbMgGaO4
• Spin liquids in geometrically perfect triangular antiferromagnets
• Spin excitations in the frustrated triangular lattice antiferromagnet NaYbO${}_2$
• Nearest-neighbor resonating valence bonds in YbMgGaO4
• Hierarchy of exchange interactions in the triangular-lattice spin-liquid YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Fractionalized excitations in the partially magnetized spin liquid candidate YbMgGaO4
• Nature of the randomness-induced quantum spin liquids in two dimensions
• Competing spin liquids and hidden nematic order in spin ice with frustrated transverse exchange
• Random-Singlet Phase in Disordered Two-Dimensional Quantum Magnets
• Crystalline Electric-Field Excitations in Quantum Spin Liquids Candidate $NaYbS{e}_2$
• Vacancy-induced low-energy density of states in the Kitaev spin liquid
• Rearrangement of uncorrelated valence bonds evidenced by low-energy spin excitations in YbMgGaO4
• Survival of itinerant excitations and quantum spin state transitions in YbMgGaO${}_4$ with chemical disorder
• The effect of spin-orbit coupling on the effective-spin correlation in YbMgGaO4
• Adiabatic demagnetization cooling well below the magnetic ordering temperature in the triangular antiferromagnet KBaGd(BO3)2
• Experimental signatures of quantum and topological states in frustrated magnetism
• Detecting spin fractionalization in a spinon Fermi surface spin liquid
• Gapless Spin Liquid Behavior in A Kagome Heisenberg Antiferromagnet with Randomly Distributed Hexagons of Alternate Bonds
• Field-Induced Spin Excitations in the Spin-1/2 Triangular-Lattice Antiferromagnet CsYbSe${}_2$
• Selective measurements of intertwined multipolar orders: non-Kramers doublets on a triangular lattice
• Crystal field Hamiltonian and anisotropy in KErSe2 and CsErSe2
• Complete field-induced spectral response of the spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet CsYbSe${}_2$
• Partial up-up-down order with the continuously distributed order parameter in the triangular antiferromagnet TmMgGaO4
• Absence of zero-point entropy in a triangular Ising antiferromagnet
• Realization of Quantum Dipoles in Triangular Lattice Crystal Ba3Yb(BO3)3
• Spectral function of the $J_1-J_2$ Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice
• Evidence of Dirac Quantum Spin Liquid in YbZn2GaO5
• Cluster-glass phase in pyrochlore XY antiferromagnets with quenched disorder
• Randomness induced spin-liquid-like phase in the spin-$1/2$ $J_1-J_2$ triangular Heisenberg model
• Quantum magnetic properties of the spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Ba${}_2$La${}_2$CoTe${}_2$O${}_{12}$
• Electron Spin Resonance on the spin-1/2 triangular magnet NaYbS2
• Finite-temperature behavior of a classical spin-orbit-coupled model for ${\text{YbMgGaO}}_4$ with and without bond disorder
• Synthesis, magnetization and heat capacity of triangular lattice materials NaErSe${}_2$ and KErSe${}_2$
• Synthesis and Anisotropic Magnetism in Quantum Spin Liquid Candidates $A$YbSe${}_2$ ($A$ = K and Rb)
• Rare-earth chalcohalides: A family of van der Waals layered Kitaev spin liquid candidates
• Effective Magnetic Hamiltonian at Finite Temperatures for Rare Earth Chalcogenides
• Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids
• Anisotropic exchange coupling and ground state phase diagram of Kitaev compound YbOCl
• Neutron scattering investigation of proposed Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in the triangular-lattice Ising antiferromagnet TmMgGaO4
• Long-range magnetic order in the $\tilde{S}=1/2$ triangular lattice antiferromagnet KCeS${}_2$
• The observation of quantum fluctuations in a kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet
• NMR study of the spin excitations in the frustrated antiferromagnet Yb(BaBO${}_3$)${}_3$ with a triangular lattice
• Magnetic phase diagrams and large magnetocaloric effects of the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic triangular lattice of Gd${}^{3+}$ ions in KBaGd(BO${}_3$)${}_2$
• Magnetic field effects on the quantum spin liquid behaviors of NaYbS${}_2$
• Possible gapless spin liquid in a rare-earth kagomé lattice magnet Tm${}_3$Sb${}_3$Zn${}_2$O${}_{14}$
• Spinon magnetic resonance of quantum spin liquids
• Systematic extraction of crystal electric-field effects and quantum magnetic model parameters in triangular rare-earth magnets
• Disorder-induced spin-liquid-like behavior in kagome-lattice compounds
• Stripe-yz magnetic order in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet KCeS2
• Spin excitations in the quantum dipolar magnet Yb(BaBO${}_3$)${}_3$
• Stripe antiferromagnetic ground state of ideal triangular lattice KErSe${}_2$
• Magnetic properties and signatures of moment ordering in triangular lattice antiferromagnet KCeO${}_2$
• Disorder-induced broadening of the spin waves in a triangular-lattice quantum-spin-liquid candidate YbZnGaO${}_4$
• Rare-Earth Chalcogenides: An Inspiring Playground For Exploring Frustrated Magnetism
• Unquantized thermal Hall effect in quantum spin liquids with spinon Fermi surfaces
• Scattering Signatures of Bond-Dependent Magnetic Interactions
• Mechanism of the insulator-to-metal transition and superconductivity in the spin liquid candidate NaYbSe${}_2$ under pressure
• Controlling frustrated magnetism on the kagome lattice by uniaxial-strain tuning
• Gapped ground state in the zigzag pseudospin-1/2 quantum antiferromagnetic chain compound PrTiNbO6
• Crystal-electric-field excitations in a quantum-spin-liquid candidate NaErS${}_2$
• $\mu$SR study of triangular Ising antiferromagnet ErMgGaO${}_4$
• Antiferromagnetism and crystalline-electric field excitations in tetragonal NaCeO2
• Exact diagonalization study of the anisotropic Heisenberg model related to YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Persistent spin dynamics and absence of spin freezing in the $H$-$T$ phase diagram of the 2D triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Recent progress on magnetic-field studies on quantum-spin-liquid candidates
• Diluting a triangular-lattice spin liquid: Synthesis and characterization of NaYb${}_{1-x}$Lu${}_x$S${}_2$ single crystals
• Effective point-charge analysis of crystal electric fields -- application to rare-earth pyrochlores and tripod kagome magnets R3Mg2Sb3O14
• Structural Disorder and Elementary Magnetic Properties of Triangular Lattice ErMgGaO4 Single Crystals
• Frustrated Magnetism in Triangular Lattice TlYbS${}_2$ Crystals Grown via Molten Flux
• Upper branch magnetism in quantum magnets: Collapses of excited levels and emergent selection rules
• Exceptional dynamics of interacting spin liquids
• Persistent spin dynamics in the pressurized spin-liquid candidate YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Field evolution of the spin-liquid candidate YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Phase Diagram of YbZnGaO4 in Applied Magnetic Field
• Spin liquid in twisted homobilayers group-VI gichalcogenides
• Excitation Spectrum and Spin Hamiltonian of the Frustrated Quantum Ising Magnet Pr${}_3$BWO${}_9$
• Structure and magnetism of a new hexagonal polymorph of Ba${}_3$Tb(BO${}_3$)${}_3$ with a quasi-2D triangular lattice
• Dynamic magnetism in the disordered hexagonal double perovskite BaTi${}_{1/2}$Mn${}_{1/2}$O${}_3$
• Electronic and structural properties of RbCeX${}_2$ (X${}_2$: O${}_2$, S${}_2$, SeS, Se${}_2$, TeSe, Te${}_2$)
• Role of alkaline metal in the rare-earth triangular antiferromagnet KYbO${}_2$
• Magnetism of $\mathrm{NaYb}{\mathrm{S}}_2$: From finite temperatures to ground state
• Constraining the Parameter Space of a Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate in Applied Field with Iterative Optimization
• Incommensurate magnetic order in Sm${}_3$BWO${}_9$ with the distorted kagome lattice
• Signatures for spinons in the quantum spin liquid candidate Ca${}_{10}$Cr${}_7$O${}_{28}$
• Structure, spin correlations and magnetism of the $S=1/2$ square-lattice antiferromagnet Sr${}_2$CuTe${}_{1-x}$W${}_x$O${}_6$ ($0\le x\le 1$)
• NMR evidence of spinon localization in kagome antiferromagnet YCu${}_3$(OH)${}_6$Br${}_2$[Br${}_{1-x}$(OH)${}_x$]
• Possible coexistence of short-range resonating-valence-bond and long-range stripe correlations in the spatially anisotropic triangular-lattice quantum magnet Cu${}_2$(OH)${}_3$NO${}_3$
• Magnetic properties of a spin-orbit entangled Jeff = 1/2 honeycomb lattice
• Spiral spin liquid in a frustrated honeycomb antiferromagnet: A single-crystal study of GdZnPO
• Reinvestigation of the homogeneous spin model in YbMgGaO${}_4$
• Kernel Polynomial Method for Linear Spin Wave Theory
• Quantum annealing of a frustrated magnet
• Projected entangled pair states study of anisotropic-exchange magnets on triangular lattice
• Boundary-limited and glassy-like phonon thermal conduction in EtMe${}_3$Sb[Pd(dmit)${}_2$]${}_2$
• Crystalline electric field excitations and their nonlinear splitting under magnetic fields in YbOCl
• Noncentrosymmetric Triangular Magnet CaMnTeO${}_6$: Strong Quantum Fluctuations and Role of s0 vs. s2 Electronic States in Competing Exchange Interactions
• Emergent Halperin-Saslow mode and Gauge Glass in quantum Ising magnet TmMgGaO${}_4$
• Quantitative Determination of the Confinement and Deconfinement of spinons in the anomalous spectra of Antiferromagnets via the Entanglement Entropy
• Non-magnetic ion site disorder effects on the quantum magnetism of a spin-1/2 equilateral triangular lattice antiferromagnet
• Anisotropic magnetism and spin fluctuations in the triangular-lattice spin-liquid candidate NaYbSe${}_2$: a single-crystal ${}^{23}$Na and ${}^{77}$Se NMR study
• Effective Model for Rare-earth Kitaev Materials and its Classical Monte Carlo Simulation
• Dilution of the magnetic lattice in the Kitaev candidate $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$ by Rh${}^{3+}$ doping
• Dominant Kitaev interaction and field-induced quantum phase transitions in triangular-lattice KCeSe2
• An intermediate phase induced by dilution in a correlated Dirac Fermi system
• Low-temperature magnetic behaviour on the triangular lattice in hexagonal Ba${}_3$Tb(BO${}_3$)${}_3$
• Finite Temperature Magnetism in the Triangular Lattice Antiferromagnet KErTe2
• Tuning interactions in the spin-ice materials Dy${}_2$Ge${}_{2-x}$Si${}_x$O${}_7$ by silicon substitution
• Evidence for a gapless Dirac spin-liquid ground state in a spin-3/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet
• Lattice dynamics of the frustrated kagome compound Y-kapellasite
• Proximate Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid in a spin-1/2 ferromagnetic XXZ chain compound
• Random singlet physics in exchange disordered 2D triangular YbCu${}_{1.14}$Se${}_2$
• Sharp spectroscopic fingerprints of disorder in an incompressible magnetic state
• Anomalous enhancement of magnetism by nonmagnetic doping in the honeycomb-lattice antiferromagnet ErOCl
• Effects of the Crystalline Electric Field in the $KErT{e}_2$ Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate
• Magnetic ground state of a Jeff = 1/2 based frustrated triangular lattice antiferromagnet
• Field-induced multipolar character in the dipolar ground state of the honeycomb rare-earth chalcohalide NdOF
• Interplay of disorder and spin liquid physics in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet YbZn2GaO5