Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2022
Volume 67, Number 3
Monday–Friday, March 14–18, 2022; Chicago
Session Q51: Quantum Spin Liquid III
3:00 PM–5:48 PM,
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Room: McCormick Place W-474B
Sponsoring
Units:
GMAG DCMP
Chair: Shangshun Zhang, University of Minnesota
Abstract: Q51.00005 : Specific heat of the kagome antiferromagnet herbertsmithite in high magnetic fields*
3:48 PM–4:00 PM
Presenter:
Quentin Barthélemy
(Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France)
Authors:
Quentin Barthélemy
(Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France)
Albin Demuer
(LNCMI-EMFL, CNRS UPR3228, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Toulouse, Univ. Toulouse 3, INSA-T, Grenoble and Toulouse, France)
Christophe Marcenat
(Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, Grenoble INP, IRIG, PHELIQS, 38000, Grenoble, France)
Thierry Klein
(Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, Institut Néel, 38000, Grenoble, France)
Bernard Bernu
(Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, 75005, Paris, France)
Laura Messio
(Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, 75005, Paris, France & Institut Universitaire de France, 75005, Paris, France)
Matias Velázquez
(Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, SIMAP, 38000, Grenoble, France)
Edwin Kermarrec
(Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France)
Fabrice Bert
(Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France)
Philippe Mendels
(Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France)
As a fundamental thermodynamic quantity, the low-temperature specific heat is a powerful probe of any low-energy excitation, which is both its strength and weakness. Indeed, for herbertsmithite in zero to moderate fields, the kagome contribution is masked by a contribution from magnetic defects.
The use of high magnetic fields allows us, for the first time, to get rid of this parasitic contribution and single out the kagome behavior. We show that this behavior is attributed to gapless excitations which are unaffected by the magnetic field, at variance with predictions for fermionic spinons. Our observations are well reproduced by state of the art numerical methods but challenge all the existing models so far. The proposed spin liquid ground state remains enigmatic but our study provides a delimited path for future theoretical developments.
*ANR-18-CE30-0022 «LINK»
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