arXiv subjects

Jian-Xin Li

Publications and source records attributed to Jian-Xin Li.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Observation of a 1/3 Magnetisation Plateau Phase as Evidence for the Kitaev Interaction in a Honeycomb-Lattice Antiferromagnet

Fractional magnetisation plateaus, in which the magnetisation is pinned at a fraction of its saturated value within a range of external magnetic field, are spectacular macroscopic manifestations of the collective quantum behaviours. One prominent example of the plateau phase is found in spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnets featuring strong geometrical frustration, and is often interpreted as quantum-fluctuation-stabilised state in magnetic field via the "order-by-disorder" mechanism. Here, we observe an unprecedented 1/3 magnetisation plateau between 5.2 and 7.4 T at 2 K in a spin-1 antiferromagnet Na$_3$Ni$_2$BiO$_6$ with a honeycomb lattice, where conventionally no geometrical frustration is anticipated. By carrying out elastic neutron scattering measurements, we propose the spin structure of the plateau phase to be an unusual partial spin-flop ferrimagnetic order, transitioning from the zigzag antiferromagnetic order in zero field. Our theoretical calculations show that the plateau phase is stabilised by the bond-anisotropic Kitaev interaction. These results provide a new paradigm for the exploration of rich quantum phases in frustrated magnets and exotic Kitaev physics in high-spin systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Interplay between Chiral Charge Density Wave and Superconductivity in Kagome Superconductors: A Self-consistent Theoretical Analysis

Inspired by the recent discovery of a successive evolutions of electronically ordered states, we present a self-consistent theoretical analysis that treats the interactions responsible for the chiral charge order and superconductivity on an equal footing. It is revealed that the self-consistent theory captures the essential features of the successive temperature evolutions of the electronic states from the high-temperature ``triple-$Q$" $2\times 2$ charge-density-wave state to the nematic charge-density-wave phase, and finally to the low-temperature superconducting state coexisting with the nematic charge density wave. We provide a comprehensive explanation for the temperature evolutions of the charge ordered states and discuss the consequences of the intertwining of the superconductivity with the nematic charge density wave. Our findings not only account for the successive temperature evolutions of the ordered electronic states discovered in experiments but also provide a natural explanation for the two-fold rotational symmetry observed in both the charge-density-wave and superconducting states. Moreover, the intertwining of the superconductivity with the nematic charge density wave order may also be an advisable candidate to reconcile the divergent or seemingly contradictory experimental outcomes regarding the superconducting properties.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Spectrum of the hole excitation in spin-orbit Mott insulator Na$_2$IrO$_3$

We study the motion of a hole with internal degrees of freedom, introduced to the zigzag magnetic ground state of Na$_2$IrO$_3$, by using the self-consistent Born approximation. We find that the low, intermediate, and high-energy spectra are primarily attributed to the singlet, triplet, and quintet hole contributions, respectively. The spectral functions exhibit distinct features such as the electron-like dispersion of low-energy states near the $Γ$ point, the maximum M-point intensity of mid-energy states, and the hole-like dispersion of high-energy states. These features are robust and almost insensitive to the exchange model and Hund's coupling, and are in qualitative agreement with the angular-resolved photoemission spectra observed in Na$_2$IrO$_3$. Our results reveal that the interference between internal degrees of freedom in different sublattices plays an important role in inducing the complex dispersions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Interplay between multi-spin and chiral spin interactions on triangular lattice

We investigate the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ nearest-neighber Heisenberg model with the four-site ring-exchange $J_4$ and chiral interaction $J_χ$ on the triangular lattice by using the variational Monte Carlo method. The $J_4$ term induces the quadratic band touching (QBT) quantum spin liquid (QSL) with only a $d+id$ spinon pairing (without hopping term), the nodal $d$-wave QSL and U(1) QSL with a finite spinon Fermi surface progressively. The effect of the chiral interaction $J_χ$ can enrich the phase diagram with two interesting chiral QSLs (topological orders) with the same quantized Chern number $\mathcal{C} = \frac{1}{2}$ and ground-state degeneracy GSD = 2, namely the U(1) chiral spin liquid (CSL) and Z$_2$ $d+id$-wave QSL. The nodal $d$-wave QSL is fragile and will turn to the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL with any finite $J_χ$ within our numerical calculation. However, in the process from QBT to the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL with the increase of $J_χ$, an exotic crossover region is found. In this region, the previous QBT state acquires a small hopping term so that it opens a small gap at the otherwise band touching points, and leads to an energy minimum which is energetically more favorable compared to another competitive local minimum from the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL. We dub this state as the proximate QBT QSL and it gives way to the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL eventually. Therefore, the cooperation of the $J_4$ and $J_χ$ terms favors mostly the Z$_2$ $d+id$-wave QSL, so that this phase occupies the largest region in the phase diagram.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Defect-induced edge ferromagnetism and fractional spin excitations of the SU(4) $π$-flux Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice

Recently, a SU(4) $π$-flux Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice has been proposed to study the spin-orbit excitations of $α$-ZrCl$_3$ [Phys.~Rev.~Lett. 121.097201~(2017)]. Based on this model with a zigzag edge, we show the edge defects can induce edge flat bands that result in a SU(4) edge ferromagnetism. We develop an effective one-dimensional interaction Hamiltonian to study the corresponding SU(4) spin excitations. Remarkably, SU(4) spin excitations of the edge ferromagnet appear as a continuum covering the entire energy region rather than usual magnons. Through further entanglement entropy analysis, we suggest that the continuum consists of fractionalized spin excitations from the disappeared magnons, except for that from the particle-hole Stoner excitations. Moreover, in ribbon systems with finite widths, the disappeared magnons can be restored in the gap formed by the finite-size effect and the optical branch of the restored magnons are found to be topological nontrivial.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Confinement and oscillating deconfinement crossover of two-magnon excitations in quantum spin chains quantified by spin entanglement entropy

We introduce the spin entanglement entropy (EE) to characterize spin excitations. The scalings of EEs are elaborated as $\ln N$, $\ln N+D_k$ and $2\ln N+D$ for the single-magnon states, two-magnon bound states and two-magnon continuum, respectively, based on the Bethe ansatz solutions of the ferromagnetic spin chain with $N$ sites. The $\ln N$ divergence for the bound states reveals the two magnons emerge as a new quasiparticle. More importantly, the nonzero intercepts ($D_k,D$) embody the many-body effects of two-magnon states. In particular, an exact relation between the intercept of EEs and an observable quantity, the two-magnon distance, is established for the bound states. In such a case, we quantify the two-magnon confinement in a spin system by the increasing entanglement with the distance as a particle physics analogue. Moreover, the EEs can also be used to study the evolution of the excitations. When the bound states are immersed in the continuum in the alternating chain, they undergo an oscillating confinement-deconfinement crossover, shown by the oscillations of the EEs and two-magnon distance with the chain length.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Spin dynamics and continuum spectra of the honeycomb J1-J2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model

We employ the spin cluster perturbation theory to investigate the dynamical properties of the antiferromagnetic $J_{1}$-$J_{2}$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. We obtain the excitation spectra for all possible phases in the phase diagram, including the Néel phase, plaquette valence-bond-solid phase, dimer valence-bond-solid phase and stripe antiferromagnetic phase. In the Néel phase, besides the obvious renormalization of the magnon dispersion, we find that the spectrum exhibits a dome-shaped broad continuum around the second Brillouin zone (BZ) and the additional strong continuum close to the corner of the BZ. In the valence-bond-solid phases, the spectra are dominated by a strong broad continuum all the way down to below $J_1$ coexisting with the lowest-energy triplon modes characterizing the plaquette and dimer phases. We ascribe this strong broad continuum and the additional continuum close to the BZ corner in the Néel phase to the contributions of fractionalized spinon excitations. In the stripe phase, a clear difference from the linear spin wave approximation is that the spectrum is gapped at the $M$ point while that obtained by the latter is gapless due to the strong quantum fluctuations. We point out that the features observed in the Néel phase are consistent with the recent neutron scattering experiments on YbCl$_{3}$ and YbBr$_{3}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Neutron spectroscopy evidence for a possible magnetic-field-induced gapless quantum-spin-liquid phase in a Kitaev material $α$-RuCl$_3$

As one of the most promising Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid (QSL) candidates, $α$-RuCl$_3$ has received a great amount of attention. However, its ground state exhibits a long-range zigzag magnetic order, which defies the QSL phase. Nevertheless, the magnetic order is fragile and can be completely suppressed by applying an external magnetic field. Here, we explore the evolution of magnetic excitations of $α$-RuCl$_3$ under an in-plane magnetic field, by carrying out inelastic neutron scattering measurements on high-quality single crystals. Under zero field, there exist spin-wave excitations near the $M$ point and a continuum near the $\mitΓ$ point, which are believed to be associated with the zigzag magnetic order and fractional excitations of the Kitaev QSL state, respectively. By increasing the magnetic field, the spin-wave excitations gradually give way to the continuous excitations. On the verge of the critical field $μ_0H_{\rm c}=7.5$ T, the former vanish and only the latter is left, indicating the emergence of a pure QSL state. By further increasing the field strength, the excitations near the $\mitΓ$ point become more intense. By following the gap evolution of the excitations near the $\mitΓ$ point, we are able to establish a phase diagram composed of three interesting phases, including a gapped zigzag order phase at low fields, possibly-gapless QSL phase near $μ_0H_{\rm c}$, and gapped partially polarized phase at high fields. These results demonstrate that an in-plane magnetic field can drive $α$-RuCl$_3$ into a long-sought QSL state near the critical field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Evidence for magnetic fractional excitations in a Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid candidate $α$-RuCl$_3$

$α$-RuCl$_3$ has been studied extensively because of its proximity to the Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid (QSL) phase and the possibility of approaching it by tuning the competing interactions. Here we present the first polarized inelastic neutron scattering study on $α$-RuCl$_3$ single crystals to explore the scattering continuum around the $Γ$ point at the Brillouin zone center, which was hypothesized to be resulting from the Kitaev QSL state but without concrete evidence. With polarization analyses, we find that while the spin-wave excitations around the M point vanish above the transition temperature $T_{\rm N}$, the pure magnetic continuous excitations around the $Γ$ point are robust against temperature. Furthermore, by calculating the dynamical spin-spin correlation function using the cluster perturbation theory, we derive magnetic dispersion spectra based on the $K$-$Γ$ model, which involves with a ferromagnetic Kitaev interaction of -7.2 meV and an off-diagonal interaction of 5.6 meV. We find this model can reproduce not only the spin-wave excitation spectra around the M point, but also the non-spin-wave continuous magnetic excitations around the $Γ$ point. These results provide evidence for the existence of fractional excitations around the $Γ$ point originating from the Kitaev QSL state, and further support the validity of the $K$-$Γ$ model as the effective minimal spin model to describe $α$-RuCl$_3$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Evidence for strong correlations at finite temperatures in the dimerized magnet Na$_2$Cu$_2$TeO$_6$

Dimerized magnets forming alternating Heisenberg chains exhibit quantum coherence and entanglement and thus can find potential applications in quantum information and computation. However, magnetic systems typically undergo thermal decoherence at finite temperatures. Here, we show inelastic neutron scattering results on an alternating antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic chain compound Na$_2$Cu$_2$TeO$_6$ that the excited quasiparticles can counter thermal decoherence and maintain strong correlations at elevated temperatures. At low temperatures, we observe clear dispersive singlet-triplet excitations arising from the dimers formed along the crystalline $b$-axis. The excitation gap is of $\sim$18 meV and the bandwidth is about half of the gap. The band top energy has a weak modulation along the [100] direction, indicative of a small interchain coupling. The gap increases while the bandwidth decreases with increasing temperature, leading to a strong reduction in the available phase space for the triplons. As a result, the Lorentzian-type energy broadening becomes highly asymmetric as the temperature is raised. These results are associated with a strongly correlated state resulting from hard-core constraint and quasiparticle interactions. We consider these results to be not only evidence for strong correlations at finite temperatures in Na$_2$Cu$_2$TeO$_6$, but also for the universality of the strongly correlated state in a broad range of quantum magnetic systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Disorder-induced broadening of the spin waves in a triangular-lattice quantum-spin-liquid candidate YbZnGaO$_4$

Disorder is important in the study of quantum spin liquids, but its role on the spin dynamics remains elusive. Here, we explore the disorder effect by investigating the magnetic-field dependence of the low-energy magnetic excitations in a triangular-lattice frustrated magnet YbZnGaO$_4$ with inelastic neutron scattering. With an intermediate field of 2.5 T applied along the $c$-axis, the broad continuum at zero field becomes more smeared both in energy and momentum. With a field up to 10 T, which fully polarizes the magnetic moments, we observe clear spin-wave excitations with a gap of $\sim$1.4 meV comparable to the bandwidth. However, the spectra are significantly broadened. The excitation spectra both at zero and high fields can be reproduced by performing classical Monte Carlo simulations which take into account the disorder effect arising from the random site mixing of nonmagnetic Zn$^{2+}$ and Ga$^{3+}$ ions. These results elucidate the critical role of disorder in broadening the magnetic excitation spectra and mimicking the spin-liquid features in frustrated quantum magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Neutron spectroscopy evidence on the dual nature of magnetic excitations in a van der Waals metallic ferromagnet Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$

In the local or itinerant extreme, magnetic excitations can be described by the Heisenberg model which treats electron spins as localized moments, or by the itinerant-electron model where the exchange interaction between electrons leads to unequal numbers of electrons with up and down spins. However, it has been elusive when both local moments and itinerant electrons are present in the intermediate range. Using inelastic neutron scattering, we provide direct spectroscopic evidence on the coexistence of and interplay between local moments and itinerant electrons in a van der Waals metallic ferromagnet Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$, which can sustain tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism down to the monolayer limit. We find that there exist ferromagnetic spin-wave excitations dispersing from the zone center at low energies resulting from local moments, and a column-like broad continuum at the zone boundary at high energies up to over 100 meV resulting from itinerant electrons. Unlike the two-dimensional crystal structure, the low-energy mode exhibits a three-dimensional nature, and the high-energy mode also has an out-of-plane dependence. Both modes persist well above the Curie temperature of 160 K. Our neutron spectroscopic data reveal that the low-energy spin waves at 100 K are more coherent than those at 4 K, which is evidence of the weakening of the Kondo screening at high temperatures. These results unambiguously demonstrate the coexistence of local moments and itinerant electrons, and the Kondo effect between these two components in Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$. Such behaviors are generally expected in heavy-fermion systems with heavy $f$ electrons but rarely clearly observed in materials with light $d$ electrons. These findings shed light on the understanding of magnetism in transition-metal compounds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Quantitative Determination of the Confinement and Deconfinement of spinons in the anomalous spectra of Antiferromagnets via the Entanglement Entropy

We introduce an entanglement entropy analysis to quantitatively identify the confinement and deconfinement of the spinons in the spin excitations of quantum magnets. Our proposal is implemented by the parton construction of a honeycomb-lattice antiferromagnet exhibiting high-energy anomalous spectra. To obtain the quasiparticles of spin excitations for entanglement entropy calculations, we develop an effective Hamiltonian using the random phase approximation. We elaborate quantitatively the deconfinement-to-confinement transition of spinons in the anomalous spectra with the increase of the Hubbard interaction, indicating the avoided fractionalization of magnons in the strong interaction regime. Meanwhile, the Higgs mode at the Γ0 point is fractionalized into four degenerate spinon pairs, although it appears as a sharp well-defined peak in the spectra. Our work extends our understanding of the deconfinement of the spinon and its coexistence with the magnon in quantum magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Topological magnon insulator spin excitations in the two-dimensional ferromagnet CrBr$_3$

Topological magnons are bosonic analogues of topological fermions in electronic systems. They have been studied extensively by theory but rarely realized by experiment. Here, by performing inelastic neutron scattering measurements on single crystals of a two-dimensional ferromagnet CrBr$_3$, which was classified as Dirac magnon semimetal featured by the linear bands crossing at the Dirac points, we fully map out the magnetic excitation spectra, and reveal that there is an apparent gap of $\sim$3.5~meV between the acoustic and optical branches of the magnons at the K point. By collaborative efforts between experiment and theoretical calculations using a five-orbital Hubbard model obtained from first-principles calculations to derive the exchange parameters, we find that a Hamiltonian with Heisenberg exchange interactions, next-nearest-neighbor Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, and single-ion anisotropy is more appropriate to describe the system. Calculations using the model show that the lower and upper magnon bands separated by the gap exhibit Chern numbers of $\pm1$. These results indicate that CrBr$_3$ is a topological magnon insulator, where the nontrivial gap is a result of the DM interaction.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Disorder-induced spin-liquid-like behavior in kagome-lattice compounds

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are an exotic state of matter that is subject to extensive research. However, the relationship between the ubiquitous disorder and the QSL behaviors is still unclear. Here, by performing comparative experimental studies on two kagomé-lattice QSL candidates, Tm$_3$Sb$_3$Zn$_2$O$_{14}$ and Tm$_3$Sb$_3$Mg$_2$O$_{14}$, which are isostructural to each other but with strong and weak structural disorder, respectively, we show unambiguously that the disorder can induce spin-liquid-like features. In particular, both compounds show dominant antiferromagnetic interactions with a Curie-Weiss temperature of -17.4 and -28.7 K for Tm$_3$Sb$_3$Zn$_2$O$_{14}$ and Tm$_3$Sb$_3$Mg$_2$O$_{14}$, respectively, but remain disordered down to about 0.05 K. Specific heat results suggest the presence of gapless magnetic excitations characterized by a residual linear term. Magnetic excitation spectra obtained by inelastic neutron scattering (INS) at low temperatures display broad continua. All these observations are consistent with those of a QSL. However, we find in Tm$_3$Sb$_3$Zn$_2$O$_{14}$ which has strong disorder resulting from the random mixing of the magnetic Tm$^{3+}$ and nonmagnetic Zn$^{2+}$, that the low-energy magnetic excitations observed in the specific heat and INS measurements are substantially enhanced, compared to those of Tm$_3$Sb$_3$Mg$_2$O$_{14}$ which has much less disorder. We believe that the effective spins of the Tm$^{3+}$ ions in the Zn$^{2+}$/Mg$^{2+}$ sites give rise to the low-energy magnetic excitations, and the amount of the random occupancy determines the excitation strength. These results provide direct evidence of the mimicry of a QSL caused by disorder.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Comprehensive study of the global phase diagram in the triangular $J$-$K$-$Γ$ model

The celebrated Kitaev honeycomb model provides an analytically tractable example with an exact quantum spin liquid ground state. While in real materials, other types of interactions besides the Kitaev coupling ($K$) are present, such as the Heisenberg ($J$) and symmetric off-diagonal ($Γ$) terms, and these interactions can also be generalized to a triangular lattice. Here, we carry out a comprehensive study of the $J$-$K$-$Γ$ model on the triangular lattice covering the full parameters region, using the combination of the exact diagonalization, classical Monte Carlo and analytic methods. In the HK limit ($Γ=0$), we find five quantum phases which are quite similar to their classical counterparts. Among them, the stripe-A and dual Néel phase are robust against the $Γ$ term, in particular the stripe-A extends to the region connecting the $K=-1$ and $K=1$ for $Γ<0$. Though the 120$^\circ$ Néel phase also extends to a finite $Γ$, its region has been largely reduced compared to the previous classical result. Interestingly, the ferromagnetic (dubbed as FM-A) phase and the stripe-B phase are unstable in response to an infinitesimal $Γ$ interaction. Moreover, we find five new phases for $Γ\ne 0$ which are elaborated by both the quantum and classical numerical methods. Part of the space previously identified as 120$^\circ$ Néel phase in the classical study is found to give way to the modulated stripe phase. Depending on the sign of the $Γ$, the FM-A phase transits into the FM-B ($Γ>0$) and FM-C ($Γ<0$) phase with different spin orientations, and the stripe-B phase transits into the stripe-C ($Γ>0$) and stripe-A ($Γ<0$). Around the positive $Γ$ point, due to the interplay of the Heisenberg, Kiatev and $Γ$ interactions, we find a possible quantum spin liquid with a continuum in spin excitations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Fractionalized Spin Excitations in the Edge Ferromagnetic State of Graphene: Signature of the Ferromagnetic Luttinger Liquid

The elementary excitations from the conventional magnetic ordered states, such as ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, are magnons. Here, we elaborate a case where the well-defined magnons are absent completely and the spin excitation spectra exhibit an entire continuum in the itinerant edge ferromagnetic state of graphene arising from the flatband edge electronic states. Based on the further studies of the entanglement entropy and finite-size analysis, we show that the continuum other than the Stoner part results from the spin-1/2 spinons deconfined from magnons. The spinon continuum in a magnetically ordered state is ascribed to a ferromagnetic Luttinger liquid in this edge ferromagnet. The investigation is carried out by using the numerical exact diagonalization method with a projection of the interacting Hamiltonian onto the flat band.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Evidence for magnon-phonon coupling in the topological magnet Cu$_3$TeO$_6$

We perform thermodynamic and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements to study the lattice dynamics (phonons) of a cubic collinear antiferromagnet Cu$_3$TeO$_6$ which hosts topological spin excitations (magnons). While the specific heat and thermal conductivity results show that the thermal transport is dominated by phonons, the deviation of the thermal conductivity from a pure phononic model indicates that there is a strong coupling between magnons and phonons. In the INS measurements, we find a mode in the excitation spectra at 4.5 K, which exhibits a slight downward dispersion around the Brillouin zone center. This mode disappears above the Néel temperature, and thus cannot be a phonon. Furthermore, the dispersion is distinct from that of a magnon. Instead, it can be explained by the magnon-polaron mode, which is new collective excitations resulting from the hybridization between magnons and phonons. We consider the suppression of the thermal conductivity and emergence of the magnon-polaron mode to be evidence for magnon-phonon coupling in Cu$_3$TeO$_6$.

cond-mat.str-el↗