Neutron scattering signatures of the 3D hyperhoneycomb Kitaev quantum spin liquid

Motivated by recent synthesis of the hyperhoneycomb material beta -Li2lrO3, we study the dynamical structure factor (DSF) of the corresponding 3D Kitaev quantum spin-liquid (QSL), whose fractionalized degrees of freedom are Majorana fermions and emergent flux loops. The properties of this 3D model a...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Physical review. B 2015-11, Vol.92 (18), Article 180408
Hauptverfasser: Smith, A., Knolle, J., Kovrizhin, D. L., Chalker, J. T., Moessner, R.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Motivated by recent synthesis of the hyperhoneycomb material beta -Li2lrO3, we study the dynamical structure factor (DSF) of the corresponding 3D Kitaev quantum spin-liquid (QSL), whose fractionalized degrees of freedom are Majorana fermions and emergent flux loops. The properties of this 3D model are known to differ in important ways from those of its 2D counterpart-it has a finite-temperature phase transition, as well as distinct features in the Raman response. We show, however, that the qualitative behavior of the DSF is broadly dimension-independent. Characteristics of the 3D DSF include a response gap even in the gapless QSL phase and an energy dependence deriving from the Majorana fermion density of states. Since the majority of the response is from states containing a single Majorana excitation, our results suggest inelastic neutron scattering as the spectroscopy of choice to illuminate the physics of Majorana fermions in Kitaev QSLs.
ISSN:1098-0121
2469-9950
1550-235X
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.180408