Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice

P. M. Sarte; A. A. Aczel; G Ehlers; C. Stock; B. D. Gaulin; C. Mauws; M. B. Stone; S. Calder; S. E. Nagler; J. W. Hollett; H. D. Zhou; J S  Gardner; J. P. Attfield; C. R. Wiebe

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/aa8ec2

Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice

P. M. Sarte, A. A. Aczel, G Ehlers, C. Stock, B. D. Gaulin, C. Mauws, M. B. Stone, S. Calder, S. E. Nagler, J. W. Hollett, H. D. Zhou, J S Gardner, J. P. Attfield, C. R. Wiebe^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Magnetic monopoles are hypothesised elementary particles connected by Dirac strings that behave like infinitely thin solenoids (Dirac 1931 Proc. R. Soc. A 133 60). Despite decades of searching, free magnetic monopoles and their Dirac strings have eluded experimental detection, although there is substantial evidence for deconfined magnetic monopole quasiparticles in spin ice materials (Castelnovo et al 2008 Nature 326 411). Here we report the detection of a hierarchy of unequally-spaced magnetic excitations via high resolution inelastic neutron spectroscopic measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7. These excitations are well-described by a simple model of monopole pairs bound by a linear potential (Coldea et al Science 327 177) with an effective tension of 0.642(8) K. angstrom(-1) at 1.65 K. The success of the linear potential model suggests that these low energy magnetic excitations are direct spectroscopic evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopole quasiparticles in the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7.

Original language	English
Article number	ARTN 45LT01
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Volume	29
Issue number	45
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/aa8ec2
Publication status	Published - 15 Nov 2017

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

neutron scattering
spin ice
geometrically frustrated magnetism
quantum spin ice
magnetic monopoles
MAGNON BOUND-STATES
EXCITATION
CHARGE
FIELD

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Sarte, P. M., Aczel, A. A., Ehlers, G., Stock, C., Gaulin, B. D., Mauws, C., Stone, M. B., Calder, S., Nagler, S. E., Hollett, J. W., Zhou, H. D., Gardner, J. S., Attfield, J. P., & Wiebe, C. R. (2017). Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 29(45), Article ARTN 45LT01. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/aa8ec2

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title = "Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice",

abstract = "Magnetic monopoles are hypothesised elementary particles connected by Dirac strings that behave like infinitely thin solenoids (Dirac 1931 Proc. R. Soc. A 133 60). Despite decades of searching, free magnetic monopoles and their Dirac strings have eluded experimental detection, although there is substantial evidence for deconfined magnetic monopole quasiparticles in spin ice materials (Castelnovo et al 2008 Nature 326 411). Here we report the detection of a hierarchy of unequally-spaced magnetic excitations via high resolution inelastic neutron spectroscopic measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7. These excitations are well-described by a simple model of monopole pairs bound by a linear potential (Coldea et al Science 327 177) with an effective tension of 0.642(8) K. angstrom(-1) at 1.65 K. The success of the linear potential model suggests that these low energy magnetic excitations are direct spectroscopic evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopole quasiparticles in the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7.",

keywords = "neutron scattering, spin ice, geometrically frustrated magnetism, quantum spin ice, magnetic monopoles, MAGNON BOUND-STATES, EXCITATION, CHARGE, FIELD",

author = "Sarte, {P. M.} and Aczel, {A. A.} and G Ehlers and C. Stock and Gaulin, {B. D.} and C. Mauws and Stone, {M. B.} and S. Calder and Nagler, {S. E.} and Hollett, {J. W.} and Zhou, {H. D.} and Gardner, {J S} and Attfield, {J. P.} and Wiebe, {C. R.}",

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doi = "10.1088/1361-648X/aa8ec2",

language = "English",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice

AU - Sarte, P. M.

AU - Aczel, A. A.

AU - Ehlers, G

AU - Stock, C.

AU - Gaulin, B. D.

AU - Mauws, C.

AU - Stone, M. B.

AU - Calder, S.

AU - Nagler, S. E.

AU - Hollett, J. W.

AU - Zhou, H. D.

AU - Gardner, J S

AU - Attfield, J. P.

AU - Wiebe, C. R.

PY - 2017/11/15

Y1 - 2017/11/15

N2 - Magnetic monopoles are hypothesised elementary particles connected by Dirac strings that behave like infinitely thin solenoids (Dirac 1931 Proc. R. Soc. A 133 60). Despite decades of searching, free magnetic monopoles and their Dirac strings have eluded experimental detection, although there is substantial evidence for deconfined magnetic monopole quasiparticles in spin ice materials (Castelnovo et al 2008 Nature 326 411). Here we report the detection of a hierarchy of unequally-spaced magnetic excitations via high resolution inelastic neutron spectroscopic measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7. These excitations are well-described by a simple model of monopole pairs bound by a linear potential (Coldea et al Science 327 177) with an effective tension of 0.642(8) K. angstrom(-1) at 1.65 K. The success of the linear potential model suggests that these low energy magnetic excitations are direct spectroscopic evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopole quasiparticles in the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7.

AB - Magnetic monopoles are hypothesised elementary particles connected by Dirac strings that behave like infinitely thin solenoids (Dirac 1931 Proc. R. Soc. A 133 60). Despite decades of searching, free magnetic monopoles and their Dirac strings have eluded experimental detection, although there is substantial evidence for deconfined magnetic monopole quasiparticles in spin ice materials (Castelnovo et al 2008 Nature 326 411). Here we report the detection of a hierarchy of unequally-spaced magnetic excitations via high resolution inelastic neutron spectroscopic measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7. These excitations are well-described by a simple model of monopole pairs bound by a linear potential (Coldea et al Science 327 177) with an effective tension of 0.642(8) K. angstrom(-1) at 1.65 K. The success of the linear potential model suggests that these low energy magnetic excitations are direct spectroscopic evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopole quasiparticles in the quantum spin ice candidate Pr2Sn2O7.

KW - neutron scattering

KW - spin ice

KW - geometrically frustrated magnetism

KW - quantum spin ice

KW - magnetic monopoles

KW - MAGNON BOUND-STATES

KW - EXCITATION

KW - CHARGE

KW - FIELD

U2 - 10.1088/1361-648X/aa8ec2

DO - 10.1088/1361-648X/aa8ec2

M3 - Article

SN - 0953-8984

VL - 29

JO - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

JF - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

IS - 45

M1 - ARTN 45LT01

ER -

Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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