Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1.
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 2Y5.
Nat Commun. 2016 Jul 29;7:12234. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12234.
We present a new classical spin liquid on the pyrochlore lattice by extending spin ice with further neighbour interactions. We find that this disorder-free spin model exhibits a form of dynamical heterogeneity with extremely slow relaxation for some spins, while others fluctuate quickly down to zero temperature. We thus call this state spin slush, in analogy to the heterogeneous mixture of solid and liquid water. This behaviour is driven by the structure of the ground-state manifold which extends the celebrated two-in/two-out ice states to include branching structures built from three-in/one-out, three-out/one-in and all-in/all-out tetrahedra defects. Distinctive liquid-like patterns in the magnetic correlations serve as a signature of this intermediate range order. Possible applications to materials as well the effects of quantum tunnelling are discussed.
我们通过扩展自旋冰模型引入进一步的近邻相互作用，在反铁榴石晶格上呈现出一种新的经典自旋液体。我们发现，这种无无序的自旋模型表现出一种动力学不均匀性，对于一些自旋，弛豫极其缓慢，而其他自旋则迅速降至零温度。因此，我们将这种状态称为自旋浆，类似于固液水的不均匀混合物。这种行为是由基态简并度的结构驱动的，它将著名的两进两出冰态扩展到包括由三进一出、三出一进和全进全出四面体缺陷构建的分支结构。磁关联中的独特类液态图案是这种中程有序的特征。讨论了这种自旋液体在材料中的可能应用以及量子隧穿的影响。
