Magnetization Plateau Observed by Ultra-High Field Faraday Rotation in a Kagomé Antiferromagnet Herbertsmithite

Abstract

To capture the high-field magnetization process of herbertsmithite (ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2), Faraday rotation (FR) measurements were carried out on a single crystal in magnetic fields of up to 190 T. The magnetization data evaluated from the FR angle exhibited a saturation behavior above 150 T at low temperatures, which was attributed to the 1/3 magnetization plateau. The overall behavior of the magnetization process was reproduced by theoretical models based on the nearest-neighbor Heisenberg model. This suggests that herbertsmithite is a proximate kagome antiferromagnet hosting an ideal quantum spin liquid in the ground state. A distinguishing feature is the superlinear magnetization increase, which is in contrast to the Brillouin function-type increase observed by conventional magnetization measurements and indicates a reduced contribution from free spins located at the Zn sites to the FR signal.

4 pages and 4 figures plus Supplemental Material

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Emergent spin-gapped magnetization plateaus in a spin-1/2 perfect kagome antiferromagnet
• Classical Spin Liquid State in the $S=\frac{5}{2}$ Heisenberg Kagomé Antiferromagnet Li${}_9$Fe${}_3$(P${}_2$O${}_7$)${}_3$(PO${}_4$)${}_2$
• Heat conduction in herbertsmithite: field dependence at the onset of the quantum spin liquid regime
• Nematicity and fractional magnetization plateaus induced by spin-lattice coupling in the classical kagome-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet
• Spinon band flattening by its emergent gauge field in quantum kagome ice
• Magnetic anisotropy effect on stabilizing magnetization plateaus of kagome strip chain Heisenberg antiferromagnets
• Robust semiclassical magnetization plateau in the kagome lattice