Search

In magnetically ordered insulators, elementary quasiparticles manifest as spin waves - collective motions of localized magnetic moments propagating through the lattice - observed via inelastic neutron scattering. In effective spin-1/2 systems where geometric frustrations suppress static magnetic order, spin excitation continua can emerge, either from degenerate classical spin ground states or from entangled quantum spins characterized by emergent gauge fields and deconfined fractionalized excitations. Comparing the spin Hamiltonian with theoretical models can unveil the microscopic origins of these zero-field spin excitation continua. Here, we use neutron scattering to study spin excitations of the two-dimensional (2D) triangular-lattice effective spin-1/2 antiferromagnet CeMgAl11O19. Analyzing the spin waves in the field-polarized ferromagnetic state, we find that the spin Hamiltonian is close to an exactly solvable 2D triangular-lattice XXZ model, where degenerate 120$^\circ$ ordered ground states - umbrella states - develop in the zero temperature limit. We then find that the observed zero-field spin excitation continuum matches the calculated ensemble of spin waves from the umbrella state manifold, and thus conclude that CeMgAl11O19 is the first example of an exactly solvable spin liquid on a triangular lattice where the spin excitation continuum arises from the ground state degeneracy., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

In the search of quantum spin liquid (QSLs), spin-1/2 triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnets (TLHAFs) have always been viewed as fertile soils. Despite the true magnetically-ordered ground state, anisotropy has been considered to play a significant role in stabilizing a QSL state. However, the nature and ground state of the most anisotropic case, the triangular-lattice Ising antiferromagnet (TLIAF), remains elusive and controversial. Here, we report specific heat and thermal conductivity measurements on a newly-discovered Ising-type QSL candidate PrMgAl11O19. At zero field, the magnetic specific heat shows a quadratic temperature dependence. On the contrary, no direct positive magnetic contribution to thermal conductivity was detected, ruling out the presence of mobile gapless fermionic excitations. Further analysis of phonon thermal conductivity reveals that the phonons are strongly scattered by thermally-activated magnetic excitations out of a gap, which exhibits a linear dependence with magnetic field. These results demonstrate that the spin-1/2 TLIAF PrMgAl11O19 has a gapped Z2 QSL ground state., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures

Recently, the Hofstadter spectrum of a twisted $\mathrm{WSe_2/MoSe_2}$ heterobilayer has been observed in experiment [C. R. Kometter, et al. Nat.Phys.19, 1861 (2023)], but the origin of Hofstadter states remains unclear. Here, we present a comprehensive theoretical interpretation of the observed Hofstadter states by calculating its accurate Hofstadter spectrum. We point out that the valley Zeeman effect, a unique feature of the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials, plays a crucial role in determining the shape of the Hofstadter spectrum, due to the narrow bandwidth of the moir\'e bands. This is distinct from the graphene-based moir\'e systems. We further predict that the Hofstadter spectrum of the moir\'e flat band, which was not observed in experiment, can be observed in the same system with a larger twist angle $2^\circ\lesssim\theta \lesssim 3^\circ$. Our theory paves the way for further studies of the interplay between the Hofstadter states and correlated insulting states in such moir\'e lattice systems., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

Digital watermarking methods are commonly used to safeguard digital media copyrights by confirming ownership and deterring unauthorized use. However, without reliable third-party oversight, these methods risk security vulnerabilities during watermark extraction. Furthermore, digital media lacks tangible ownership attributes, posing challenges for secure copyright transfer and tracing. This study introduces DataSafe, a copyright protection scheme that combines physical unclonable functions (PUFs) and blockchain technology. PUF devices use their unique fingerprints for blockchain registration. Subsequently, these devices incorporate invisible watermarking techniques to embed digital watermarks into media for copyright protection. The watermark verification process is confined within the devices, preserving confidentiality during extraction, validating identities during copyright exchanges, and facilitating blockchain-based traceability of copyright transfers. The implementation of a prototype system on the LPC55S69-EVK development board is detailed, illustrating the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed solution.

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) represent a novel state where spins are highly entangled but do not order even at zero temperature due to strong quantum fluctuations. Such a state is mostly studied in Heisenberg models defined on geometrically frustrated lattices. Here, we turn to a new triangular-lattice antiferromagnet PrMgAl$_{11}$O$_{19}$, in which the interactions are believed to be of Ising type. Magnetic susceptibility measured with an external field along the $c$ axis is two orders of magnitude larger than that with a field in the $ab$ plane, displaying an ideal easy-axis behavior. Meanwhile, there is no magnetic phase transition or spin freezing observed down to 1.8 K. Ultralow-temperature specific heat measured down to 50 mK does not capture any phase transition either, but a hump at 4.5 K, below which the magnetic specific heat exhibits a quasi-quadratic temperature dependence that is consistent with a Dirac QSL state. Inelastic neutron scattering technique is also employed to elucidate the nature of its ground state. In the magnetic excitation spectra, there is a gapless broad continuum at the base temperature 55~mK, in favor of the realization of a gapless QSL. Our results provide a scarce example for the QSL behaviors observed in an Ising-type magnet, which can serve as a promising platform for future research on QSL physics based on an Ising model., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

Fractional magnetisation plateaus, in which the magnetisation is pinned at a fraction of its saturated value within a range of external magnetic field, are spectacular macroscopic manifestations of the collective quantum behaviours. One prominent example of the plateau phase is found in spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnets featuring strong geometrical frustration, and is often interpreted as quantum-fluctuation-stabilised state in magnetic field via the "order-by-disorder" mechanism. Here, we observe an unprecedented 1/3 magnetisation plateau between 5.2 and 7.4 T at 2 K in a spin-1 antiferromagnet Na$_3$Ni$_2$BiO$_6$ with a honeycomb lattice, where conventionally no geometrical frustration is anticipated. By carrying out elastic neutron scattering measurements, we propose the spin structure of the plateau phase to be an unusual partial spin-flop ferrimagnetic order, transitioning from the zigzag antiferromagnetic order in zero field. Our theoretical calculations show that the plateau phase is stabilised by the bond-anisotropic Kitaev interaction. These results provide a new paradigm for the exploration of rich quantum phases in frustrated magnets and exotic Kitaev physics in high-spin systems., Comment: Submitted version, 10 pages, 5 figures. Final version has been published in Nature Physics

We report a quasi-one-dimensional S = 1 spin chain compound BaNiTe2O7. This magnetic system has been investigated by magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, and neutron powder diffraction. These results indicate that BaNiTe2O7 develops a short-range magnetic correlation around T ~ 22 K. With further cooling, an antiferromagnetic phase transition is observed at TN ~ 5.4 K. Neutron powder diffraction revealed antiferromagnetic noncollinear order with a commensurate propagation vector k = (1/2, 1, 0). The refined magnetic moment size of Ni2+ at 1.5 K is 1.84{\mu}B, and its noncollinear spin texture is confirmed by first-principles calculations. Inelastic neutron-scattering results and density functional theory calculations confirmed the quasi-one-dimensional nature of the spin systems., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures

Due to the lack of the translational symmetry, calculating the energy spectrum of an incommensurate system has always been a theoretical challenge. Here, we propose a natural approach to generalize the energy band theory to the incommensurate systems without reliance on the commensurate approximation, thus providing a comprehensive energy spectrum theory of the incommensurate systems. Except for a truncation dependent weighting factor, the formulae of this theory are formally almost identical to that of the Bloch electrons, making it particularly suitable for complex incommensurate structures. To illustrate the application of this theory, we give three typical examples: one-dimensional bichromatic and trichromatic incommensurate potential model, as well as a moir\'{e} quasicrystal. Our theory establishes a fundamental framework for understanding the incommensurate systems., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

The honeycomb-lattice cobaltate Na$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$ has recently been proposed to be a proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid~(QSL) candidate. However, non-Kitaev terms in the Hamiltonian lead to a zigzag-type antiferromagnetic~(AFM) order at low temperatures. Here, we partially substitute magnetic Co$^{2+}$ with nonmagnetic Zn$^{2+}$ and investigate the chemical doping effect in tuning the magnetic ground states of Na$_3$Co$_{2-x}$Zn$_x$SbO$_6$. X-ray diffraction characterizations reveal no structural transition but quite tiny changes on the lattice parameters over our substitution range $0\leq x\leq0.4$. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat results both show that AFM transition temperature is continuously suppressed with increasing Zn content $x$ and neither long-range magnetic order nor spin freezing is observed when $x\geq0.2$. More importantly, a linear term of the specific heat representing fermionic excitations is captured below 5~K in the magnetically disordered regime, as opposed to the $C_{\rm m}\propto T^3$ behavior expected for bosonic excitations in the AFM state. Based on the data above, we establish a magnetic phase diagram of Na$_3$Co$_{2-x}$Zn$_x$SbO$_6$. Our results indicate the presence of gapless fractional excitations in the samples with no magnetic order, evidencing a potential QSL state induced by doping in a Kitaev system., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

Very recently, a 3$d$ based honeycomb cobaltate Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$ has garnered tremendous attention due to the proposed proximity to the Kitaev spin-liquid state as its 4$d$/5$d$ counterparts. Here, we use Zn to substitute Co in a broad range and perform systematic studies on Na$_2$Co$_{2-x}$Zn$_x$TeO$_6$ by structural, magnetic, and thermodynamic measurements, and track the doping evolution of its magnetic ground states. Due to the extremely close radii of Zn$^{2+}$ and high-spin Co$^{2+}$ ions, the substitution can be easily achieved. X-ray diffractions reveal no structural transition but only minor changes on the lattice parameter $c$ over a wide substitution range $0 \leq x \leq 1.5$. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements both suggest an antiferromagnetic ground state which is gradually suppressed with doping. It can survive with $x$ up to $\sim1.0$. Then it evolves into a spin-glass phase with short-range order that is rapidly supplanted by a magnetically disordered state when $x \geq 1.3$. By summarizing all these data, we construct a magnetic phase diagram of Na$_2$Co$_{2-x}$Zn$_x$TeO$_6$. Our results demonstrate that the Zn doping can effectively suppress the magnetic order and induce a possibe quantum paramagnetic state. These may serve as a platform to investigate the Kitaev physics in this system., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

Due to the observed superconductivity, the alternating twisted trilayer graphene (ATTLG) has drawn great research interest very recently, in which three monolayer graphene (MLG) are stacked in alternating twist way. If one or several of the MLG in ATTLG are replaced by a multilayer graphene, we get a double twisted multilayer graphene (DTMLG). In this work, we theoretically illustrate that, if the DTMLG has a mirror symmetry along z direction like the ATTLG, there exists a mirror symmetry decomposition (MSD), by which the DTMLG can be exactly decoupled into two subsystems with opposite parity. The two subsystems are either a twisted multilayer graphene (single twist) or a multilayer graphene, depending on the stacking configuration. Such MSD can give a clear interpretation about all the novel features of the moir\'{e} band structures of DTMLG, e.g. the fourfold degenerate flat bands and the enlarged magic angle. Meanwhile, in such DTMLG, the parity becomes a new degree of freedom of the electrons, so that we can define a parity resolved Chern number for the moir\'{e} flat bands. More importantly, the MSD implies that all the novel correlated phases in the twisted multilayer graphene should also exist in the corresponding DTMLGs, since they have the exact same Hamiltonian in form. Specifically, according to the MSD, we predict that the superconductivity should exist in the (1+3+1)-DTMLG., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

Hysteretic switching of domain states is a salient character of all ferroic materials and the foundation for their multifunctional applications. Ferro-rotational order is emerging as a new type of ferroic order featuring structural rotations, but its controlled switching remains elusive due to its invariance under both time reversal and spatial inversion. Here, we demonstrate electrical switching of ferro-rotational domain states in nanometer-thick 1T-TaS$_2$ crystals in its charge-density-wave phases. Cooling from the high-symmetry phase to the ferro-rotational phase under an external electric field induces domain state switching and domain wall formation, realized in a simple two-terminal configuration using a volt-scale voltage. Although the electric field does not couple with the order due to symmetry mismatch, it drives domain wall propagation to give rise to reversible, durable, and nonvolatile isothermal state switching at room temperature. These results pave the path for manipulation of the ferro-rotational order and its nanoelectronic applications.

We have performed inelastic neutron scattering measurements on optimally-doped Fe$_{0.98}$Te$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ and 10% Cu-doped Fe$_{0.88}$Cu$_{0.1}$Te$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ to investigate the substitution effects on the spin excitations in the whole energy range up to 300 meV. It is found that substitution of Cu for Fe enhances the low-energy spin excitations ($\le$ 100 meV), especially around the (0.5, 0.5) point, and leaves the high-energy magnetic excitations intact. In contrast to the expectation that Cu with spin 1/2 will dilute the magnetic moments contributed by Fe with a larger spin, we find that the 10% Cu doping enlarges the effective fluctuating moment from 2.85 to 3.13 $\mu_{\rm B}$/Fe, although there is no long- or short-range magnetic order around (0.5, 0.5) and (0.5, 0). The presence of enhanced magnetic excitations in the 10% Cu doped sample which is in the insulating state indicates that the magnetic excitations must have some contributions from the local moments, reflecting the dual nature of the magnetism in iron-based superconductors. We attribute the substitution effects to the localization of the itinerant electrons induced by Cu dopants. These results also indicate that the Cu doping does not act as electron donor as in a rigid-band shift model, but more as scattering centers that localize the system., Comment: Published in PRB, 8 pages, 3 figures

Dimerized magnets forming alternating Heisenberg chains exhibit quantum coherence and entanglement and thus can find potential applications in quantum information and computation. However, magnetic systems typically undergo thermal decoherence at finite temperatures. Here, we show inelastic neutron scattering results on an alternating antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic chain compound Na$_2$Cu$_2$TeO$_6$ that the excited quasiparticles can counter thermal decoherence and maintain strong correlations at elevated temperatures. At low temperatures, we observe clear dispersive singlet-triplet excitations arising from the dimers formed along the crystalline $b$-axis. The excitation gap is of $\sim$18 meV and the bandwidth is about half of the gap. The band top energy has a weak modulation along the [100] direction, indicative of a small interchain coupling. The gap increases while the bandwidth decreases with increasing temperature, leading to a strong reduction in the available phase space for the triplons. As a result, the Lorentzian-type energy broadening becomes highly asymmetric as the temperature is raised. These results are associated with a strongly correlated state resulting from hard-core constraint and quasiparticle interactions. We consider these results to be not only evidence for strong correlations at finite temperatures in Na$_2$Cu$_2$TeO$_6$, but also for the universality of the strongly correlated state in a broad range of quantum magnetic systems., Comment: Published in PRB, 8 pages, 6 figures

Disorder is important in the study of quantum spin liquids, but its role on the spin dynamics remains elusive. Here, we explore the disorder effect by investigating the magnetic-field dependence of the low-energy magnetic excitations in a triangular-lattice frustrated magnet YbZnGaO$_4$ with inelastic neutron scattering. With an intermediate field of 2.5 T applied along the $c$-axis, the broad continuum at zero field becomes more smeared both in energy and momentum. With a field up to 10 T, which fully polarizes the magnetic moments, we observe clear spin-wave excitations with a gap of $\sim$1.4 meV comparable to the bandwidth. However, the spectra are significantly broadened. The excitation spectra both at zero and high fields can be reproduced by performing classical Monte Carlo simulations which take into account the disorder effect arising from the random site mixing of nonmagnetic Zn$^{2+}$ and Ga$^{3+}$ ions. These results elucidate the critical role of disorder in broadening the magnetic excitation spectra and mimicking the spin-liquid features in frustrated quantum magnets., Comment: Published in PRB, 10 pages, 3 figures

$\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ has been studied extensively because of its proximity to the Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid (QSL) phase and the possibility of approaching it by tuning the competing interactions. Here we present the first polarized inelastic neutron scattering study on $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ single crystals to explore the scattering continuum around the $\Gamma$ point at the Brillouin zone center, which was hypothesized to be resulting from the Kitaev QSL state but without concrete evidence. With polarization analyses, we find that while the spin-wave excitations around the M point vanish above the transition temperature $T_{\rm N}$, the pure magnetic continuous excitations around the $\Gamma$ point are robust against temperature. Furthermore, by calculating the dynamical spin-spin correlation function using the cluster perturbation theory, we derive magnetic dispersion spectra based on the $K$-$\Gamma$ model, which involves with a ferromagnetic Kitaev interaction of -7.2 meV and an off-diagonal interaction of 5.6 meV. We find this model can reproduce not only the spin-wave excitation spectra around the M point, but also the non-spin-wave continuous magnetic excitations around the $\Gamma$ point. These results provide evidence for the existence of fractional excitations around the $\Gamma$ point originating from the Kitaev QSL state, and further support the validity of the $K$-$\Gamma$ model as the effective minimal spin model to describe $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$., Comment: Published in Chinese Physics Letters as Express Letter, 8 pages, 4 figures

In the local or itinerant extreme, magnetic excitations can be described by the Heisenberg model which treats electron spins as localized moments, or by the itinerant-electron model where the exchange interaction between electrons leads to unequal numbers of electrons with up and down spins. However, it has been elusive when both local moments and itinerant electrons are present in the intermediate range. Using inelastic neutron scattering, we provide direct spectroscopic evidence on the coexistence of and interplay between local moments and itinerant electrons in a van der Waals metallic ferromagnet Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$, which can sustain tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism down to the monolayer limit. We find that there exist ferromagnetic spin-wave excitations dispersing from the zone center at low energies resulting from local moments, and a column-like broad continuum at the zone boundary at high energies up to over 100 meV resulting from itinerant electrons. Unlike the two-dimensional crystal structure, the low-energy mode exhibits a three-dimensional nature, and the high-energy mode also has an out-of-plane dependence. Both modes persist well above the Curie temperature of 160 K. Our neutron spectroscopic data reveal that the low-energy spin waves at 100 K are more coherent than those at 4 K, which is evidence of the weakening of the Kondo screening at high temperatures. These results unambiguously demonstrate the coexistence of local moments and itinerant electrons, and the Kondo effect between these two components in Fe$_{2.72}$GeTe$_{2}$. Such behaviors are generally expected in heavy-fermion systems with heavy $f$ electrons but rarely clearly observed in materials with light $d$ electrons. These findings shed light on the understanding of magnetism in transition-metal compounds., Comment: Main text 15 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary Materials available on PRX