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Register a new userSoft spin-amplitude fluctuations in a Mott-insulating ruthenate
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Magnetism in transition-metal compounds (TMCs) has traditionally been associated with spin degrees of freedom, because the orbital magnetic moments are typically largely quenched. On the other hand, magnetic order in 4f- and 5d-electron systems arises from spin and orbital moments that are rigidly tied together by the large intra-atomic spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Using inelastic neutron scattering on the archetypal 4d-electron Mott insulator Ca$_2$RuO$_4$, we report a novel form of excitonic magnetism in the intermediate-strength regime of the SOC. The magnetic order is characterized by ``soft magnetic moments with large amplitude fluctuations manifested by an intense, low-energy excitonic mode analogous to the Higgs mode in particle physics. This mode heralds a proximate quantum critical point separating the soft magnetic order driven by the superexchange interaction from a quantum-paramagnetic state driven by the SOC. We further show that this quantum critical point can be tuned by lattice distortions, and hence may be accessible in epitaxial thin-film structures. The unconventional spin-orbital-lattice dynamics in Ca$_2$RuO$_4$ identifies the SOC as a novel source of quantum criticality in TMCs.
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Motivated by the presence of an unquenched orbital angular momentum in CoO, a team at Chalk River, including a recently hired research officer Roger Cowley, performed the first inelastic neutron scattering experiments on the classic Mott insulator [Sakurai $textit{et al.}$ 1968 Phys. Rev. $mathbf{167}$ 510]. Despite identifying magnon modes at the zone boundary, the team was unable to parameterise the low energy magnetic excitation spectrum below $Trm{_{N}}$ using conventional pseudo-bosonic approaches. It would not be for another 40 years that Roger, now at Oxford and motivated by the discovery of the high-$T_{c}$ cuprate superconductors [Bednorz & Muller 1986 Z. Phys. B $mathbf{64}$ 189], would make another attempt at the parameterisation of the magnetic excitation spectrum that had previously alluded him. Upon his return to CoO, Roger found a system embroiled in controversy, with some of its most fundamental parameters still remaining undetermined. Faced with such a formidable task, Roger performed a series of inelastic neutron scattering experiments in the early 2010s on both CoO and a magnetically dilute structural analogue MgO. These experiments would prove instrumental in the determination of both single-ion [Cowley $textit{et al.}$ 2013 Phys. Rev. B $mathbf{88}$ 205117] and cooperative magnetic parameters [Sarte $textit{et al.}$ 2018 Phys. Rev. B $mathbf{98}$ 024415] for CoO. Both these sets of parameters would eventually be used in a spin-orbit exciton model [Sarte $textit{et al.}$ 2019 Phys. Rev. B $mathbf{100}$ 075143], developed by his longtime friend and collaborator Bill Buyers, to successfully parameterise the complex spectrum that both measured at Chalk River almost 50 years prior. The story of CoO is of one that has come full circle, one filled with both spectacular failures and intermittent, yet profound, little victories.
Identifying and characterizing the parent phases of iron-based superconductors is an important step towards understanding the mechanism for their high temperature superconductivity. We present an investigation into the magnetic interactions in the Mott insulator La2O2Fe2OSe2. This iron oxyselenide adopts a 2-k magnetic structure with low levels of magnetic frustration. This magnetic ground state is found to be dominated by next-nearest neighbor interactions J2 and J2 and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the Fe2+ site, leading to 2D-Ising-like spin S=2 fluctuations. In contrast to calculations, the values are small and confine the spin excitations below ~ 25 meV. This is further corroborated by sum rules of neutron scattering. This indicates that superconductivity in related materials may derive from a weakly coupled and unfrustrated magnetic structure.
We show theoretically the fingerprints of short-range spiral magnetic correlations in the photoemission spectra of the Mott insulating ground states realized in the triangular silicon surfaces K/Si(111)-B and SiC(0001). The calculated spectra present low energy features of magnetic origin with a reduced dispersion ~10-40 meV compared with the center-of-mass spectra bandwidth ~0.2-0:3 eV. Remarkably, we find that the quasiparticle signal survives only around the magnetic Goldstone modes. Our findings would position these silicon surfaces as new candidates to investigate non-conventional quasiparticle excitations.
The magnetic structure of Ca$_2$MnReO$_6$ double perovskite is investigated by neutron powder diffraction and bulk magnetization, showing dominant non-collinear Mn magnetic moments [$4.35(7)$ $mu_B$] that are orthogonally aligned with the small Re moments [$0.22(4)$ $mu_B$]. $Ab$-initio electronic structure calculations show that the strong spin-orbit coupling for Re $5d$ electrons combined with a relatively modest on-site Coulomb repulsion ($U_{eff}^{Re} gtrsim 0.6$ eV) is sufficient to render this material insulating. This is a rare example of spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator outside the realm of iridates, with remarkable magnetic properties.
Dynamics of magnetic moments near the Mott metal-insulator transition is investigated by a combined slave-rotor and Dynamical Mean-Field Theory solution of the Hubbard model with additional fully-frustrated random Heisenberg couplings. In the paramagnetic Mott state, the spinon decomposition allows to generate a Sachdev-Ye spin liquid in place of the collection of independent local moments that typically occurs in the absence of magnetic correlations. Cooling down into the spin-liquid phase, the onset of deviations from pure Curie behavior in the spin susceptibility is found to be correlated to the temperature scale at which the Mott transition lines experience a marked bending. We also demonstrate a weakening of the effective exchange energy upon approaching the Mott boundary from the Heisenberg limit, due to quantum fluctuations associated to zero and doubly occupied sites.
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