2009/02/28 by M. A. de Vries, J. R. Stewart, P. P. Deen +7 · 1 citation
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.103.237201
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 237201 (2009) · Paper as published in Physics Review Letters. One figure with new data has been added and text has changed to improve clarity and to include discussion of the new data. 4 pages, 3 figures
openalex publication_date 2009/12/02 · arxiv created 2009/12/21 · arxiv updated 2010/01/07 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Neutron spectroscopy and diffuse neutron scattering on herbertsmithite [ZnCu(3)(OH)(6)Cl(2)], a near-ideal realization of the s=1/2 kagome antiferromagnet, reveal the hallmark property of a quantum spin liquid: instantaneous short-ranged antiferromagnetic correlations in the absence of a time-averaged ordered moment. These dynamic antiferromagnetic correlations are weakly dependent of neutron-energy transfer and temperature, and persist up to 25 meV and 120 K. At low energy transfers a shift of the magnetic scattering to low Q is observed with increasing temperature, providing evidence of gapless spinons. It is argued that these observations provide important evidence in favor of resonating-valence-bond theories of (doped) Mott insulators.