The low-temperature highly correlated quantum phase in the charge-density-wave 1T-TaS_2 compound

Abstract

A prototypical quasi-2D metallic compound, 1T-TaS_2 has been extensively studied due to an intricate interplay between a Mott-insulating ground state and a charge density-wave (CDW) order. In the low-temperature phase, 12 out of 13 Ta_{4+} 5\textit{d}-electrons form molecular orbitals in hexagonal star-of-David patterns, leaving one 5\textit{d}-electron with \textit{S} = 1/2 spin free. This orphan quantum spin with a large spin-orbit interaction is expected to form a highly correlated phase of its own. And it is most likely that they will form some kind of a short-range order out of a strongly spin-orbit coupled Hilbert space. In order to investigate the low-temperature magnetic properties, we performed a series of measurements including neutron scattering and muon experiments. The obtained data clearly indicate the presence of the short-ranged phase and put the upper bound on ~ 0.4 \textitμ_B for the size of the magnetic moment, consistent with the orphan-spin scenario.

11 pages, 4 figures + supplemental material. Accepted by npj Quantum Materials

References in corpus (3)

• Classification of Charge Density Waves Based on Their Nature
• From Spin Glass to Quantum Spin Liquid Ground States in Molybdate Pyrochlores
• Ba8CoNb6O24: a spin-1/2 triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet in the 2D limit

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids
• Gapless excitations in the ground state of 1T-TaS${}_2$
• Heat transport study of the spin liquid candidate 1T-TaS2
• Charge density waves in electron-doped molybdenum disulfide
• Realization of metallic state in 1T-TaS2 with persisting long-range order of charge density wave
• Magnetic and spin-liquid phases in the frustrated $t-t^{\prime }$ Hubbard model on the triangular lattice
• Robust atomic orbital in the cluster magnet LiMoO2
• Stabilization of antiferromagnetism in 1T-Fe${}_{0.05}$TaS${}_2$