PIRSA:14050016

Experimental Sightings of the Quantum Spin Liquid

Lee, Y. (2014). Experimental Sightings of the Quantum Spin Liquid. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/14050016

Lee, Young. Experimental Sightings of the Quantum Spin Liquid. Perimeter Institute, May. 01, 2014, https://pirsa.org/14050016 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:14050016,
            doi = {10.48660/14050016},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/14050016},
            author = {Lee, Young},
            keywords = {},
            language = {en},
            title = {Experimental Sightings of the Quantum Spin Liquid},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2014},
            month = {may},
            note = {PIRSA:14050016 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Young Lee Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

DOI 10.48660/14050016
Collection
Talk Type Conference

Abstract

New states of matter may be produced if quantum effects and frustration conspire to prevent the ground state from achieving classical order. An example of a new quantum phase is the quantum spin liquid. Such spin liquids cannot be characterized by local order parameters; rather, they are distinctive by their possession of long range quantum entanglement. I will describe recent experimental progress in the quest to study quantum spin liquids in frustrated magnets. The kagome lattice, composed of corner-sharing triangles, is highly frustrated for antiferromagnetic spins. Materials based on the kagome lattice with spin-1/2 are ideal hosts for quantum spin liquid ground states. I will discuss our group’s work which includes single crystal growth, bulk characterization, and neutron scattering measurements of the S=1/2 kagome lattice material ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2 (also known as herbertsmithite). Our inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the spin correlations in a single crystal sample reveal that the excitations are fractionalized, a hallmark signature of spin liquid physics.