High energy spin excitations in the quantum spin liquid candidate Zn-barlowite probed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Abstract

A quantum spin liquid is a novel ground state that can support long-range entanglement between magnetic moments, resulting in exotic spin excitations involving fractionalized $S=\frac{1}{2}$ spinons. Here, we measure the excitations in single crystals of the spin liquid candidate Zn-barlowite using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. By analyzing the incident polarization and temperature dependences, we deduce a clear magnetic scattering contribution forming a broad continuum that surprisingly extends up to $\sim$200 meV ($\sim$14$J$, where $J$ is the magnetic exchange). The excitation spectrum reveals that significant contributions arise from multiple pairs of spinons and/or antispinons at high energies.

7 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Identifying Topological Order by Entanglement Entropy
• Projected wavefunction study of Spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the Kagome lattice
• Properties of an algebraic spin liquid on the kagome lattice
• Fractional excitations in the square-lattice quantum antiferromagnet
• Barlowite: A Spin-1/2 Antiferromagnet with a Geometrically Perfect Kagome Motif
• Emergence of spin singlets with inhomogeneous gaps in the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnets Zn-barlowite and herbertsmithite
• X-ray Scattering Study of the spin-Peierls transition and soft phonon behavior in TiOCl
• Site-Specific Structure at Multiple Length Scales in Kagome Quantum Spin Liquid Candidates
• Freezing of the Lattice in the Kagome Lattice Heisenberg Antiferromagnet Zn-barlowite ZnCu${}_3$(OD)${}_6$FBr

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Dynamical spin correlations in kagome antiferromagnets: comparison of Abrikosov fermion and Schwinger boson approaches beyond mean field
• Z${}_2$ topological orders in kagomé dipolar systems: Feedback from Rydberg quantum simulator
• Local probe investigation of the spin dynamics in the kagome and inter-layers of orthorhombic barlowite Cu${}_4$(OD)${}_6$FBr: ${}^{79}$Br and ${}^{63}$Cu NQR study