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  Gonzalez, M.; Noculak, V.; Sharma, A.; Favre, V.; Soh, J.-R.; Magrez, A.; Bewley, R.; Jeschke, H.; Reuther, J.; Ronnow, H.; Iqbal, Y.; Zivkovic, I.: Dynamics of K₂Ni₂(SO₄)₃ governed by proximity to a 3D spin liquid model. Nature Communications 15 (2024), p. 7191/1-9

10.1038/s41467-024-51362-1
Open Accesn Version

Abstract:
Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) have become a key area of research in magnetism due to their remarkable properties, such as long-range entanglement, fractional excitations, and topologically protected phenomena. Recently, the search for QSLs has expanded into the three-dimensional world, despite the suppression of quantum fluctuations due to high dimensionality. A new candidate material, K2Ni2(SO4)3, belongs to the langbeinite family and consists of two interconnected trillium lattices. Although magnetically ordered, it exhibits a highly dynamical and correlated state. In this work, we combine inelastic neutron scattering measurements with density functional theory (DFT), pseudo-fermion functional renormalization group (PFFRG), and classical Monte Carlo (cMC) calculations to study the magnetic properties of K2Ni2(SO4)3, revealing a high level of agreement between experiment and theory. We further reveal the origin of the dynamical state in K2Ni2(SO4)3 to be centred around a magnetic network composed of tetrahedra on a trillium lattice.