Field-induced quantum spin disordered state in spin-1/2 honeycomb magnet Na2Co2TeO6

Gaoting Lin; Jaehong Jeong; Chaebin Kim; Yao Wang; Qing Huang; Takatsugu Masuda; Shinichiro Asai; Shinichi Itoh; Gerrit Günther; Margarita Russina; Zhilun Lu; Jieming Sheng; Le Wang; Jiucai Wang; Guohua Wang; Qingyong Ren; Chuanying Xi; Wei Tong; Langsheng Ling; Zhengxin Liu; Liusuo Wu; Jiawei Mei; Zhe Qu; Haidong Zhou; Xiaoqun Wang; Je-Geun Park; Yuan Wan; Jie Ma

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25567-7

Field-induced quantum spin disordered state in spin-1/2 honeycomb magnet Na₂Co₂TeO₆

Nat Commun. 2021 Sep 21;12(1):5559. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25567-7.

Authors

Gaoting Lin¹, Jaehong Jeong^{2

3}, Chaebin Kim^{2

4}, Yao Wang^{5

6}, Qing Huang⁷, Takatsugu Masuda^{8

9}, Shinichiro Asai⁸, Shinichi Itoh⁹, Gerrit Günther¹⁰, Margarita Russina¹⁰, Zhilun Lu^{11

12}, Jieming Sheng^{13

14

15}, Le Wang¹⁵, Jiucai Wang¹⁶, Guohua Wang¹, Qingyong Ren^{1

13

14}, Chuanying Xi¹⁷, Wei Tong¹⁷, Langsheng Ling¹⁷, Zhengxin Liu¹⁶, Liusuo Wu¹⁵, Jiawei Mei¹⁵, Zhe Qu^{17

18}, Haidong Zhou⁷, Xiaoqun Wang¹, Je-Geun Park^{2

4}, Yuan Wan^{19

20

21}, Jie Ma²²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
³ Center for Correlated Electron Sciences, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Center for Quantum Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
⁶ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
⁸ Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8581, Japan.
⁹ Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tsukuba, 305-0801, Japan.
¹⁰ Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, Berlin, 14109, Germany.
¹¹ The Henry Royce Institute and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sir Robert Hadfield Building, Sheffield, S1 3JD, United Kingdom.
¹² Mechanical Engineering and Design, School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, United Kingdom.
¹³ Spallation Neutron Source Science Center, Dongguan, 523803, China.
¹⁴ Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
¹⁵ Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering (SIQSE) and Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China.
¹⁷ Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics at Extreme Conditions, High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, China.
¹⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic and Energy Conservation Materials, Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, China.
¹⁹ Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China. yuan.wan@iphy.ac.cn.
²⁰ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. yuan.wan@iphy.ac.cn.
²¹ Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong, 523808, China. yuan.wan@iphy.ac.cn.
²² Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. jma3@sjtu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Spin-orbit coupled honeycomb magnets with the Kitaev interaction have received a lot of attention due to their potential of hosting exotic quantum states including quantum spin liquids. Thus far, the most studied Kitaev systems are 4d/5d-based honeycomb magnets. Recent theoretical studies predicted that 3d-based honeycomb magnets, including Na₂Co₂TeO₆ (NCTO), could also be a potential Kitaev system. Here, we have used a combination of heat capacity, magnetization, electron spin resonance measurements alongside inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to study NCTO's quantum magnetism, and we have found a field-induced spin disordered state in an applied magnetic field range of 7.5 T < B (⊥ b-axis) < 10.5 T. The INS spectra were also simulated to tentatively extract the exchange interactions. As a 3d-magnet with a field-induced disordered state on an effective spin-1/2 honeycomb lattice, NCTO expands the Kitaev model to 3d compounds, promoting further interests on the spin-orbital effect in quantum magnets.

Abstract

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