TY - JOUR
T1 - Diffusive excitonic bands from frustrated triangular sublattice in a singlet-ground-state system
AU - Gao, Bin
AU - Chen, Tong
AU - Wu, Xiao Chuan
AU - Flynn, Michael
AU - Duan, Chunruo
AU - Chen, Lebing
AU - Huang, Chien Lung
AU - Liebman, Jesse
AU - Li, Shuyi
AU - Ye, Feng
AU - Stone, Matthew B.
AU - Podlesnyak, Andrey
AU - Abernathy, Douglas L.
AU - Adroja, Devashibhai T.
AU - Duc Le, Manh
AU - Huang, Qingzhen
AU - Nevidomskyy, Andriy H.
AU - Morosan, Emilia
AU - Balents, Leon
AU - Dai, Pengcheng
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Magnetic order in most materials occurs when magnetic ions with finite moments arrange in a particular pattern below the ordering temperature. Intriguingly, if the crystal electric field (CEF) effect results in a spin-singlet ground state, a magnetic order can still occur due to the exchange interactions between neighboring ions admixing the excited CEF levels. The magnetic excitations in such a state are spin excitons generally dispersionless in reciprocal space. Here we use neutron scattering to study stoichiometric Ni2Mo3O8, where Ni2+ ions form a bipartite honeycomb lattice comprised of two triangular lattices, with ions subject to the tetrahedral and octahedral crystalline environment, respectively. We find that in both types of ions, the CEF excitations have nonmagnetic singlet ground states, yet the material has magnetic order. Furthermore, CEF spin excitons from the tetrahedral sites form a dispersive diffusive pattern around the Brillouin zone boundary, likely due to spin entanglement and geometric frustrations.
AB - Magnetic order in most materials occurs when magnetic ions with finite moments arrange in a particular pattern below the ordering temperature. Intriguingly, if the crystal electric field (CEF) effect results in a spin-singlet ground state, a magnetic order can still occur due to the exchange interactions between neighboring ions admixing the excited CEF levels. The magnetic excitations in such a state are spin excitons generally dispersionless in reciprocal space. Here we use neutron scattering to study stoichiometric Ni2Mo3O8, where Ni2+ ions form a bipartite honeycomb lattice comprised of two triangular lattices, with ions subject to the tetrahedral and octahedral crystalline environment, respectively. We find that in both types of ions, the CEF excitations have nonmagnetic singlet ground states, yet the material has magnetic order. Furthermore, CEF spin excitons from the tetrahedral sites form a dispersive diffusive pattern around the Brillouin zone boundary, likely due to spin entanglement and geometric frustrations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152338533&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-37669-5
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-37669-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 37045810
AN - SCOPUS:85152338533
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 2051
ER -