​​​In a quantum spin liquid, the magnetic moments of a material act like a liquid and remain disordered even at absolute zero. Materials that can form a quantum spin liquid have the potential for applications in quantum computing, data storage and high temperature superconductivity.

Many quantum spin liquids are based on magnetic atoms arranged in triangular planes, with magnetic interactions that are frustrated by this arrangement. Even at temperatures approaching absolute zero, the magnetic frustration and quantum fluctuations of the atomic magnetic moments cannot arrange themselves into a magnetically ordered state. 

This study focussed on TbInO3, and used HRPD to measure the neutron diffraction from the sample at temperatures down to 0.46K. The group saw a lack of magnetic Bragg scattering from the sample, indicating the absence of long-range magnetic order in the material. This demonstrates that TbInO3 forms a much more exotic structure where the magnetic atoms sit on two interpenetrating sites that ultimately form a honeycomb lattice, rather than a simple triangular one. Their experiments on MuSR and EMU enabled them to show that this lack of long-range magnetic order, and therefore the exotic structure, was present down to 0.1 K. 

Instrument: HRPD, EMU, MuSR 

Related publication: “Two-dimensional spin liquid behaviour in the triangular-honeycomb antiferromagnet TbInO3.” Nat. Phys. 15, 262–268 (2019) 

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-018-0407-2

Funding: NSERC of Canada, US Department of Energy, STFC

​Authors: L Clark (University of Liverpool, McMaster University), G Sala (McMaster University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory), DD Maharaj (McMaster University), MB Stone (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), KS Knight (UCL, Natural History Museum, ISIS), MTF Telling (ISIS), X Wang, X Xu, J Kim (Rutgers University), Y Li (Rutgers University, Shandong University), S Cheong (Rutgers University), BD Gaulin (McMaster University, Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, Canadian Institute for Materials Research)