Disorder-induced proximate quantum spin ice phase in Pr2Sn2O7
Abstract
Magnetic pyrochlores with non-Kramers rare-earth ions provide a platform for exploring emergent gauge physics and quantum spin-ice behavior, yet the influence of structural disorder on their ground states remains insufficiently understood. Here we combine bulk characterization and single-crystal neutron-scattering measurements to investigate the non-Kramers pyrochlore Pr2Sn2O7. At temperatures below ~1 K, the system exhibits key hallmarks of quantum spin-ice physics, including anisotropic spin-ice correlations and two distinct dynamical timescales. Upon further cooling, however, we observe a complete spin-freezing transition at T_f ~ 0.15 K, accompanied by recovery of the full nuclear Schottky anomaly, the emergence of a gapped magnetic excitation, and the development of incipient (100) magnetic correlations. Comparison with related Pr-based pyrochlores places Pr2Sn2O7 near the spin-frozen boundary of a disorder-perturbed phase diagram. These results establish a disorder-driven framework for how quantum spin-ice behavior evolves into frozen ground states, demonstrating that proximity to a quantum spin liquid can coexist with disorder-induced spin freezing in non-Kramers pyrochlores.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2508.19248,
title = {Disorder-induced proximate quantum spin ice phase in Pr2Sn2O7},
author = {Yi Luo and Brenden R. Ortiz and Miles Knudtson and Stephen D. Wilson and Jue Liu and Benjamin A. Frandsen and Si Athena Chen and Matthias D. Frontzek and Andrey A. Podlesnyak and Joseph A. M. Paddison and Adam A. Aczel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.19248},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
14 pages, 5 figures, and 1 table in the main text; 12 pages, 11 figures, and 1 table in the Supplementary Information. v4(05/25/2026): Updated Fig. S2. v3 (05/07/2025): Revised the Introduction and Discussion sections and added a comparative analysis of multiple Pr-based pyrochlores. v2 (09/16/2025): Corrected typographical errors and updated DOIs in the references