Spectroscopic signatures of fractionalization in octupolar quantum spin ice

Abstract

Recent investigations on the dipolar-octupolar compounds Ce${}_2$Zr${}_2$O${}_7$ and Ce${}_2$Sn${}_2$O${}_7$ suggest that they may stabilize so-called $\pi$-flux octupolar quantum spin ice ($\pi$-O-QSI), a novel three-dimensional quantum spin liquid hosting emergent photons. Confirmation of such an exotic phase would require the prediction of a distinctive signature and its subsequent experimental observation. So far, however, theoretical predictions for any such sharp smoking-gun signatures are lacking. In this Letter, we thoroughly investigate O-QSI using an extension of gauge mean-field theory. This framework produces a phase diagram consistent with previous studies and an energy-integrated neutron scattering signal with intensity-modulated rod motifs, as reported in experiments and numerical studies. We predict that the dynamical spin structure factor of $\pi$-O-QSI is characterized by a broad continuum with three distinctive peaks as a consequence of the two mostly flat spinon bands. These three peaks should be measurable by high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering. Such spectroscopic signatures would be clear evidence for the realization of $\pi$-flux quantum spin ice.

7+25 pages, 4+11 figures

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids
• Emergent photons and fractionalized excitations in a quantum spin liquid
• A pseudofermion functional renormalization group study of dipolar-octupolar pyrochlore magnets
• Finite Temperature Dynamics in 0-Flux and $\pi$-Flux Quantum Spin Ice: Self-Consistent Exclusive Boson Approach
• Dipolar-octupolar correlations and hierarchy of exchange interactions in Ce${}_2$Hf${}_2$O${}_7$
• Signatures of spinon dynamics and phase structure of dipolar-octupolar quantum spin ices in two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy
• Two-Peak Heat Capacity Accounts for $R\ln (2)$ Entropy and Ground State Access in the Dipole-Octupole Pyrochlore Ce${}_2$Hf${}_2$O${}_7$
• Single Crystal Diffuse Neutron Scattering Study of the Dipole-Octupole Quantum Spin Ice Candidate Ce${}_2$Zr${}_2$O${}_7$: No Apparent Octupolar Correlations Above $T=0.05$ K
• Vison crystal in quantum spin ice on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Magnetic Field Response of Dipolar-Octupolar Quantum Spin Ice
• Inelastic neutron scattering on Ce pyrochlores: Signatures of electric monopoles
• Quantum Spin Liquids Stabilized by Disorder in Non-Kramers Pyrochlores
• Towards a global phase diagram of Ce-based dipolar-octupolar pyrochlore magnets under magnetic fields