Abstract ID T103

Herbertsmithite: A quantum Heisenberg spin liquid on the kagome network.

Philippe Mendels,a F. Bert,a , A. Olariu,a , A. Zorko,1,b , E. Kermarrec,a and M. Chung,a a Lab. de Physique des Solides, Univ Paris-Sud, UMR CNRS 8502, 91405 Orsay, France b Joef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia z The discovery of herbertsmithite ZnCu3 (OH)6 Cl2 has been recently described as the end to the drought of spin liquids [1]. It has triggered an intense activity on new kagome materials and related theories for the ground state of the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet which has eluded any denitive conclusion for the last twenty years. This is indeed the rst experimental example of a kagome lattice where no order has been found at any temperature well below J through all experimental techniques, including SR [2]. This illustrates the power of the association of an enhancement of quantum uctuations for S = 1/2 spins with the frustration of antiferromagnetic interactions on the loosely connected kagome lattice to stabilize novel ground states of magnetic matter. Various experimental results on Herbertsmithite will be reviewed and discussed, including kagome susceptibility as determined by 17 O NMR lineshift [3], the impact of inter-site Cu/Zn mixing [3,4] on the physics of defects and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropy, as evidenced through high-eld ESR [5]. Recent developments on new families and debates which have opened in the comparison with models (e.g. quantum criticality) as well as pending issues on the theoretical and experimental side will be reviewed [6]. This research was supported in part by the EC MC Grant MEIFCT- 2006-041243, the ANR Project OxyFonda NT05-4-41913, the ARRS Project No. Z1-9530 and the ESF network Highly Frustrated Magnetism. [1] P. A. Lee, Science 321, 1306 (2008). [2] P. Mendels et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 077204 (2007). [3] A. Olariu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 087202 (2008). [4] F. Bert et al., Phys. Rev. B 76, 132411 (2007). [5] A. Zorko et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 026405 (2008). [6] P. Mendels and F.Bert, in Special Topics Section on Novel States of Matter Induced by Frustration, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 79, 011001 (2010).