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Chasing the spin gap through the phase diagram of a frustrated Mott insulator
The quest for entangled spin excitations has stimulated intense research on frustrated magnetic systems. For almost two decades, the triangular-lattice Mott insulator κ-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu(2)(CN)(3) has been one of the hottest candidates for a gapless quantum spin liquid with itinerant spinons. Very rec...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10082190/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37029139 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37491-z |
Sumario: | The quest for entangled spin excitations has stimulated intense research on frustrated magnetic systems. For almost two decades, the triangular-lattice Mott insulator κ-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu(2)(CN)(3) has been one of the hottest candidates for a gapless quantum spin liquid with itinerant spinons. Very recently, however, this scenario was overturned as electron-spin-resonance (ESR) studies unveiled a spin gap, calling for reevaluation of the magnetic ground state. Here we achieve a precise mapping of this spin-gapped phase through the Mott transition by ultrahigh-resolution strain tuning. Our transport experiments reveal a reentrance of charge localization below T(⋆) = 6 K associated with a gap size of 30–50 K. The negative slope of the insulator-metal boundary, dT(⋆)/dp < 0, evidences the low-entropy nature of the spin-singlet ground state. By tuning the enigmatic ‘6K anomaly’ through the phase diagram of κ-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu(2)(CN)(3), we identify it as the transition to a valence-bond-solid phase, in agreement with previous thermal expansion and magnetic resonance studies. This spin-gapped insulating state persists at T → 0 until unconventional superconductivity and metallic transport proliferate. |
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