Spin-Glass Ground State in a Triangular-Lattice Compound YbZnGaO^sub 4

We report on comprehensive results identifying the ground state of a triangular-lattice structured YbZnGaO4 as a spin glass, including no long-range magnetic order, prominent broad excitation continua, and the absence of magnetic thermal conductivity. More crucially, from the ultralow-temperature ac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2018-02, Vol.120 (8), p.087201
Main Authors: Ma, Zhen, Wang, Jinghui, Dong, Zhao-Yang, Zhang, Jun, Li, Shichao, Zheng, Shu-Han, Yu, Yunjie, Wang, Wei, Che, Liqiang, Ran, Kejing, Bao, Song, Cai, Zhengwei, Čermák, P, Schneidewind, A, Yano, S, Gardner, J S, Lu, Xin, Yu, Shun-Li, Liu, Jun-Ming, Li, Shiyan, Li, Jian-Xin, Wen, Jinsheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conductivity
Ground state
Magnetic permeability
Spin glasses
Thermal conductivity
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We report on comprehensive results identifying the ground state of a triangular-lattice structured YbZnGaO4 as a spin glass, including no long-range magnetic order, prominent broad excitation continua, and the absence of magnetic thermal conductivity. More crucially, from the ultralow-temperature ac susceptibility measurements, we unambiguously observe frequency-dependent peaks around 0.1 K, indicating the spin-glass ground state. We suggest this conclusion holds also for its sister compound YbMgGaO4, which is confirmed by the observation of spin freezing at low temperatures. We consider disorder and frustration to be the main driving force for the spin-glass phase.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114