arXiv subjects

Changle Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Changle Liu.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Intertwined dipolar and multipolar order in the triangular-lattice magnet TmMgGaO$_4$

A phase transition is often accompanied by the appearance of an order parameter and symmetry breaking. Certain magnetic materials exhibit exotic hidden-order phases, in which the order parameters are not directly accessible to conventional magnetic measurements. Thus, experimental identification and theoretical understanding of a hidden order are difficult. Here we combine neutron scattering and thermodynamic probes to study the newly discovered rare-earth triangular-lattice magnet TmMgGaO$_4$. Clear magnetic Bragg peaks at K points are observed in the elastic neutron diffraction measurements. More interesting, however, is the observation of sharp and highly dispersive spin excitations that cannot be explained by a magnetic dipolar order, but instead is the direct consequence of the underlying multipolar order that is "hidden" in the neutron diffraction experiments. We demonstrate that the observed unusual spin correlations and thermodynamics can be accurately described by a transverse field Ising model on the triangular lattice with an intertwined dipolar and ferro-multipolar order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Experimental identification of electric dipoles induced by magnetic monopoles in Tb2Ti2O7

The fundamental principles of electrodynamics allow an electron carrying both electric monopole (charge) and magnetic dipole (spin) but prohibit its magnetic counterpart. Recently it was predicted that the magnetic "monopoles" carrying emergent magnetic charges in spin ice systems can induce electric dipoles. The inspiring prediction offers a novel way to study magnetic monopole excitations and magnetoelectric coupling. However, no clear example has been identified up to now. Here, we report the experimental evidence for electric dipoles induced by magnetic monopoles in spin frustrated Tb2Ti2O7. The magnetic field applied to pyrochlore Tb2Ti2O7 along [111] direction, brings out a "3-in-1-out" magnetic monopole configuration, and then induces a subtle structural phase transition at Hc~2.3 T. The transition is evidenced by the non-linear phonon splitting under magnetic fields and the anomalous crystal-field excitations of Tb3+ ions. The observations consistently point to the displacement of the oxygen O" anions along [111] axis which gives rise to the formation of electric dipoles. The finding demonstrates that the scenario of magnetic monopole having both magnetic charge and electric dipole is realized in Tb2Ti2O7 and sheds light into the coupling between electricity and magnetism of magnetic monopoles in spin frustrated systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Upper branch magnetism in quantum magnets: Collapses of excited levels and emergent selection rules

In many quantum magnets especially the rare-earth ones, the low-lying crystal field states are not well separated from the excited ones and thus are insufficient to describe the low-temperature magnetic properties. Inspired by this simple observation, we develop a microscopic theory to describe the magnetic physics due to the collapses of the weak crystal field states. We find two cases where the excited crystal field states should be seriously included into the theory. One case is when the bandwidth of the excited crystal field states is comparable to the crystal field gap. The other case is when the exchange energy gain between the low-lying and excited crystal field states overcomes the crystal field gap. Both cases could drive a phase transition and result in magnetic orders by involving the excited crystal field states. We dub the above physics as upper branch magnetism and phase transition. We discuss the multitude of magnetic phases and the emergent selection rules for the detection of the underlying excitations. We expect our results to help improve the understanding of many rare-earth magnets with weak crystal field gaps such as Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ and Tb$_2$Sn$_2$O$_7$, and also provide a complementary perspective to the prevailing local "$J$" physics in $4d$/$5d$ magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Extended Coulomb liquid of paired hardcore boson model on a pyrochlore lattice

There is a growing interest in the $U(1)$ Coulomb liquid in both quantum materials in pyrochlore ice and cluster Mott insulators and cold atom systems. We explore a paired hardcore boson model on a pyrochlore lattice. This model is equivalent to the XYZ spin model that was proposed for rare-earth pyrochlores with "dipole-octupole" doublets. Since this model has no sign problem for quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations in a large parameter regime, we carry out both analytical and QMC calculations. We find that the $U(1)$ Coulomb liquid is quite stable and spans a rather large portion of the phase diagram with boson pairing. Moreover, we numerically find thermodynamic evidence that the boson pairing could induce a possible $\mathbb{Z}_2$ liquid in the vicinity of the phase boundary between Coulomb liquid and $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry-broken phase. Besides the materials' relevance with quantum spin ice, we point to quantum simulation with cold atoms on optical lattices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Interplay of Dirac electrons and magnetism in AMnBi2 (A=Ca, Sr)

Dirac materials exhibit intriguing low-energy carrier dynamics that offer a fertile ground for novel physics discovery. Of particular interest is the interplay of Dirac carriers with other quantum phenomena, such as magnetism. Here we report on a two-magnon Raman scattering study of AMnBi2 (A=Ca, Sr), a prototypical magnetic Dirac system comprising alternating Dirac-carrier and magnetic layers. We present the first accurate determination of the exchange energies in these compounds and, by comparison to the reference compound BaMn2Bi2, we show that the Dirac-carrier layers in AMnBi2 significantly enhance the exchange coupling between the magnetic layers, which in turn drives a charge-gap opening along the Dirac locus. Our findings break new grounds in unveiling the fundamental physics of magnetic Dirac materials, which offer a novel platform for probing a distinct type of spin-Fermion interaction. The outstanding properties of these materials allow a delicate manipulation of the interaction between the Dirac carriers and magnetic moments, thus holding great promise for applications in magnetic Dirac devices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Semiclassical ground-state phase diagram and multi-Q phase of a spin-orbit coupled model on triangular lattice

Motivated by recent experiments on the frustrated quantum magnetic compound YbMgGaO4, we study an effective spin model on triangular lattice taking into account the effects of the spin-orbit coupling. We determine the classical ground-state phase diagram of this model, which includes a 120 degree Neel and two collinear antiferromagnetic phases. In the vicinity of the phase boundary between the Neel and collinear phases, we identify three intermediate non-collinear antiferromagnetic phases. In each of them the magnetic moments are ordered at multiple incommensurate wave vector Q values. We further study the effects of quantum fluctuations in this model via a linear spin-wave theory. We find that the spin excitation gap of the non-collinear multi-Q antiferromagnetic state is finite but can be vanishingly small, and this state is unstable to a spin liquid phase under strong quantum fluctuations in some large J_{z+-} regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Spin wave approach to the two-magnon Raman scattering in an J1x-J1y-J2-Jc antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model

We study the two-magnon non-resonant Raman scattering in the (pi,pi) and (pi,0) ordered antiferromagnetic phases of a J1x-J1y-J2-Jc Heisenberg model on the tetragonal lattice within the framework of the spin-wave theory. We discuss the effects of various tuning factors to the two-magnon Raman spectra. We find that both the magnetic frustration J2/J1 and the interlayer exchange coupling Jc may significantly affect the spectra in both the B1g and A1g' channels in the (pi,pi) Neel ordered phase. Moreover, we find a splitting of the two-magnon peak in the (pi,0) antiferromagnetic phase. We further discuss the implications of our results to the BaMnBi2 and iron pnictide systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗