English

Spin and quadrupole correlations by three-spin interaction in the frustrated pyrochlore magnet Tb$_{2+x}$Ti$_{2-x}$O$_{7+y}$

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2022-02-09 v1

Abstract

We have investigated the origin of the magnetic dipole correlations σQzσQz\langle \sigma_{\boldsymbol{Q}}^z \sigma_{\boldsymbol{-Q}}^z \rangle characterized by the modulation wave vector k(12,12,12)\boldsymbol{k} \sim (\tfrac{1}{2},\tfrac{1}{2},\tfrac{1}{2}) observed in the frustrated pyrochlore magnet Tb2+x_{2+x}Ti2x_{2-x}O7+y_{7+y}. This magnetic short-range order cannot be accounted for by adding further-neighbor exchange interactions to the nearest-neighbor pseudospin-12\tfrac{1}{2} Hamiltonian for quantum pyrochlore magnets. Using classical Monte Carlo simulation and quantum simulation based on thermally pure quantum (TPQ) states we have shown that the spin correlations with k(12,12,12)\boldsymbol{k} \sim (\tfrac{1}{2},\tfrac{1}{2},\tfrac{1}{2}) are induced at low temperatures by a three-spin interaction of a form σr±σrzσrz\sigma_{\boldsymbol{r}}^{\pm} \sigma_{\boldsymbol{r}^{\prime}}^z \sigma_{\boldsymbol{r}^{\prime \prime}}^z , which is a correction to the Hamiltonian due to the low crystal-field excitation. Simulations using TPQ states have shown that the spin correlations coexist with electric quadrupole correlations σQασQβ\langle \sigma_{\boldsymbol{Q}}^{\alpha} \sigma_{\boldsymbol{-Q}}^{\beta} \rangle (α,β=x,y\alpha, \beta = x, y) with k0\boldsymbol{k} \sim \boldsymbol{0}. These results suggest that the putative quantum spin liquid state of Tb2+x_{2+x}Ti2x_{2-x}O7+y_{7+y} is located close to phase boundaries of the spin-ice, quadrupole-ordered, and magnetic-ordered states in the classical approximation, and that the three-spin interaction brings about a quantum disordered ground state with both spin and quadrupole correlations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.08799,
  title  = {Spin and quadrupole correlations by three-spin interaction in the frustrated pyrochlore magnet Tb$_{2+x}$Ti$_{2-x}$O$_{7+y}$},
  author = {Hiroaki Kadowaki and Mika Wakita and Björn Fåk and Jacques Ollivier and Seiko Ohira-Kawamura},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.08799},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

28 pages, 25 figures