Revisiting spin ice physics in the ferromagnetic Ising pyrochlore Pr 2 Sn 2 O 7

摘要: Pyrochlore materials are characterized by their hallmark network of corner-sharing rare-earth tetrahedra, which can produce a wide array of complex magnetic ground states. Ferromagnetic Ising pyrochlores often obey the “two-in-two-out” spin ice rules, which can lead to a highly degenerate spin structure. Large moment systems, such as and , tend to host a classical spin ice state with low-temperature spin freezing and emergent magnetic monopoles. Systems with smaller effective moments, such as -based pyrochlores, have been proposed as excellent candidates for hosting a “quantum spin ice” characterized by entanglement and a slew of exotic quasiparticle excitations. However, experimental evidence for a quantum spin ice state has remained elusive. Here, we show that the low-temperature magnetic properties of satisfy several important criteria for continued consideration as a quantum spin ice …