Novel magnetic ordering in ${\mathrm{LiYbO}}_{2}$ probed by muon spin relaxation

Novel magnetic ordering in ${LiYbO}_{2}$ probed by muon spin relaxation

Eric M. Kenney, Mitchell M. Bordelon, Chennan Wang, Hubertus Luetkens, Stephen D. Wilson, and Michael J. Graf

Phys. Rev. B 106, 144401 – Published 3 October 2022

Abstract

The stretched diamond lattice material ${LiYbO}_{2}$ has recently been reported to exhibit two magnetic transitions ( $T_{N 1} = 1.1 K, T_{N 2} = 0.45 K$ ) via specific heat, magnetization, and neutron scattering measurements [Bordelon et al., Phys. Rev. B 103, 014420 (2021)]. Here we report complementary magnetic measurements down to $T = 0.28 K$ via the local-probe technique of muon spin relaxation. While we observe a rapid increase in the zero-field muon depolarization rate at $T_{N 1}$ , for $T < T_{N 1}$ we do not observe the spontaneous muon precession which is typically associated with long-range magnetic ordering. The depolarization rate in the ordered state shows a surprising sensitivity to magnetic fields applied along the initial spin polarization direction. Using a simple one-dimensional model, we show that these results are consistent with the unusual random-phase bipartite incommensurate magnetic structure proposed by Bordelon et al. for the intermediate temperature range $T_{N 2} < T < T_{N 1}$ . We also find evidence for magnetic fluctuations persisting to our lowest temperatures, but no obvious signature of the transition or spontaneous muon precession at and below $T_{N 2}$ , respectively.

Received 3 May 2022
Revised 10 August 2022
Accepted 6 September 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.144401

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Frustrated magnetism Magnetic order Quantum spin liquid

3-dimensional systems Chiral magnets Diamond structure Strongly correlated systems

Muon spin relaxation & rotation

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Eric M. Kenney ¹, Mitchell M. Bordelon ², Chennan Wang⁴, Hubertus Luetkens⁴, Stephen D. Wilson³, and Michael J. Graf ¹

¹Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA
²Materials Physics and Applications–Quantum, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
³Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
⁴Laboratory for Muon Spin Spectroscopy, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland

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Vol. 106, Iss. 14 — 1 October 2022

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Figure 1
Zero-field depolarization spectra of ${LiYbO}_{2}$ measured on the Dolly (solid circles) and GPS (empty circles) spectrometers with fits as described in text (solid lines). Curves are offset by 0.333 successfully for figure clarity.
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Figure 2
Short-time zero-field (ZF) asymmetry spectra plotted from 0 to $0.3 μ s$ . Spectra were measured on Dolly and range from $0.28$ to $1.8 K$ . We observe a sharp transition between 1.10 and 1.15 K. At $0.28 K$ the time gating was adjusted to increase temporal resolution. No oscillations or dips are seen in the spectra, despite improved resolution. Curves are offset by equal amounts for clarity.
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Figure 3
Temperature dependence of the fit parameters described in the main text. The exponential rate $λ$ and its fraction $f_{λ}$ describe the long-time decay of the asymmetry, presumably due to quasistatic fluctuations, while the Gaussian rate $σ$ describes the short-time behavior due to static order. The drop of $f_{λ}$ to $1 / 3$ below the transition is consistent with a long-range ordering transition reducing dynamics, resulting in the appearance of a weakly damped $1 / 3$ tail.
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Figure 4
Longitudinal field $μ^{+} SR$ spectra at 0.28 K. The initial lifting of the asymmetry spectra corresponds to the suppression of static disorder or quasistatic fluctuations. The small lifting of the asymmetry between 50 and 800 Oe allows us to estimate the internal field strength associated with the rapid decay to be roughly 500 Oe.
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Figure 5
(Left) Field distributions $D (B_{loc})$ for a simple incommensurate magnet (Bessel) and the RPBI distribution, as described in the text. (Right) The temperature-dependent asymmetry data (circles) and plots of the phenomenological fit (Gss), the Bessel function, and Bessel squared depolarization as described in the text. The parameters used are obtained from the shown Gaussian fit. For the Bessel depolarization, we take $γ_{μ} B_{\max} = \sqrt{2} σ$ in accordance with the short-time expansions of $J_{0}$ and $e^{\frac{- σ^{2} t^{2}}{2}}$ .
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Figure 6
(Left) Longitudinal field dependence of the static tails for the data shown in Fig. 4 (gray points with gray lines to guide the eye.) Overlaid is the calculated LF dependence for the field distributions in the text, given the fit parameters extracted from the fit at $0.28 K$ . The used internal field values are derived from the fitted depolarization rate. The lack of high-field agreement in any model indicates the presence of dynamics, despite the Gaussian-like line shape in zero field. (Right) The LF tail recalculated using a linearly screened field with $α = 1 / 3$ .
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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Novel magnetic ordering in ${LiYbO}_{2}$ probed by muon spin relaxation

Eric M. Kenney, Mitchell M. Bordelon, Chennan Wang, Hubertus Luetkens, Stephen D. Wilson, and Michael J. Graf

Phys. Rev. B 106, 144401 – Published 3 October 2022

Abstract

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Novel magnetic ordering in LiYbO2 probed by muon spin relaxation

Eric M. Kenney, Mitchell M. Bordelon, Chennan Wang, Hubertus Luetkens, Stephen D. Wilson, and Michael J. Graf

Phys. Rev. B 106, 144401 – Published 3 October 2022

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Novel magnetic ordering in ${LiYbO}_{2}$ probed by muon spin relaxation