Observation of the spiral spin liquid in a triangular-lattice material
The spiral spin liquid (SSL) is a highly degenerate state characterized by a continuous contour or surface in reciprocal space spanned by a spiral propagation vector. Although the SSL state has been predicted in a number of various theoretical models, very few materials are so far experimentally identified to host such a state. Via combined single-crystal wide-angle and small-angle neutron scattering, we report observation of the SSL in the quasi-two-dimensional delafossite-like AgCrSe<sub>2</sub>. We show that it is a very close realization of the ideal Heisenberg J<sub>1</sub>-J<sub>2</sub>-J<sub>3</sub> frustrated model on the triangular lattice. By supplementing our experimental results with microscopic spin-dynamics simulations, we demonstrate how such exotic magnetic states are driven by thermal fluctuations and exchange frustration.
Authors
- Øystein S. Fjellvåg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0215-5260)
- M. Baenitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8742-0195)
- Marein C. Rahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7403-8288)
- A. S. Sukhanov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1445-667X)
- A. Podlesnyak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9366-6319)
- С. Е. Никитин (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8495-1038)
- N. D. Andriushin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5400-8719)
- Marcus Schmidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8349-7125)
- J. S. White (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7738-0150)
- D. S. Inosov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0639-2503)
Institutions
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- University of Augsburg (DE)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- Institute for Energy Technology (NO)
- Complexity, Topology and Dynamics in Quantum Matter (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-03-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57319-2
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.03
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Paul Scherrer Institut
- Exzellenzcluster Ozean der Zukunft