Direct evidence for a dynamical ground state in the highly frustrated Tb(2)Sn(2)O(7) pyrochlore

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Sep 15;97(11):117203. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.117203. Epub 2006 Sep 15.

Abstract

mSR experiments have been performed on a powder sample of the "ordered spin ice" Tb(2)Sn(2)O(7) pyrochlore. At base temperature (T=35 mK), the muon relaxation is found to be of dynamical nature, which demonstrates that strong fluctuations persist below the ferromagnetic transition (T(C)=0.87 K). Hints of long-range ordering appear as oscillations of the muon polarization when an external field is applied and also as a hysteretic behavior below T(C). We propose that dynamics results from fluctuations of clusters of correlated spins with the ordered spin ice structure.