Spiral spin-liquid and the emergence of a vortex-like state in MnSc&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;

Gao, Shang; Zaharko, Oksana; Tsurkan, Vladimir; Su, Yixi; White, Jonathan S.; Tucker, Gregory S.; Roessli, Bertrand; Bourdarot, Frederic; Sibille, Romain; Chernyshov, Dmitry; Fennell, Tom; Loidl, Alois; Rüegg, Christian

doi:10.1038/nphys3914

Spiral spin-liquid and the emergence of a vortex-like state in MnSc₂S₄

Gao S, Zaharko O, Tsurkan V, Su Y, White JS, Tucker GS, Roessli B, Bourdarot F, Sibille R, Chernyshov D, Fennell T, Loidl A & Rüegg C

Citation

Gao, S., Zaharko, O., Tsurkan, V., Su, Y., White, J. S., Tucker, G. S., … Rüegg, C. (2017). Spiral spin-liquid and the emergence of a vortex-like state in MnSc₂S₄. Nature Physics, 13(2), 157-161. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3914

Persistent URL https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi:4205

Spirals and helices are common motifs of long-range order in magnetic solids, and they may also be organized into more complex emergent structures such as magnetic skyrmions and vortices. A new type of spiral state, the spiral spin-liquid, in which spins fluctuate collectively as spirals, has recently been predicted to exist. Here, using neutron scattering techniques, we experimentally prove the existence of a spiral spin-liquid in MnSc₂S₄ by directly observing the spiral surface'-a continuous surface of spiral propagation vectors in reciprocal space. We elucidate the multi-step ordering behaviour of the spiral spin-liquid, and discover a vortex-like triple-q phase on application of a magnetic field. Our results prove the effectiveness of the J₁-J₂ Hamiltonian on the diamond lattice as a model for the spiral spin-liquid state in MnSc₂S₄, and also demonstrate a new way to realize a magnetic vortex lattice through frustrated interactions.