Thermal Transport Study of the Dimerized Quantum Magnet Strontium Copper Borate*

Strontium Copper Borate (SrCu₂(BO₃)₂, or SCBO) has a unique crystal structure in which pairs of copper atoms with spin-1/2 states hybridize to form spin-1 dimers, making it a realization of the Shastry Sutherland model. This compound has a singlet ground state at each dimer seperated by an energy gap from a triplet excitated state. It is predicted that this system should contain topologically-protected edge states consisting of itinerant triplets known as triplons, making SCBO a bosonic topological insulator. Since these triplons do not carry charge, thermal measurements are required to observe them. We report on the field-dependent thermal conductivity of this material as well as our progress in observing triplon states using the thermal Hall effect.