Quantum spin-liquid states in an organic magnetic layer and molecular rotor hybrid

A better understanding of quantum spin liquids (QSLs), where spin dimer configurations are fluctuating even at the low- est temperatures, could be of use in quantum information, in superconducting or other technologies. This macroscopic collective state typically arises from geometrical frustration or low dimensionality. In the layered EDT-BCO, we report a QSL state, which is generated, on different bases, with the intrinsic disorder. The spins in the EDT plane despite a weak frustration would magnetically order but the disorder potential coming from the molecular rotors in the BCO plane prevents it. With multiple experimental probes, the stabilization of a QSL state is demonstrated with signatures of orphan spins, as defects between the QSL domains.

Facility: SμS

Reference: P. Szirmai et al, PNAS 117, 29555 (2020)

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