A topological spin glass in diluted spin ice

TL;DR

This paper reveals that in diluted spin ice, topological phases and freezing are intrinsically connected, with disorder inducing new degrees of freedom that freeze while the topological phase persists.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a topological spin glass in diluted spin ice, showing that disorder leads to a new type of degrees of freedom that freeze without destroying the topological phase.

Findings

Disorder induces new degrees of freedom in the topological phase.

Freezing occurs while the topological phase remains intact.

Topological and glassy behaviors are fundamentally linked.

Abstract

It is a salient experimental fact that a large fraction of candidate spin liquid materials freeze as the temperature is lowered. The question naturally arises whether such freezing is intrinsic to the spin liquid ("disorder-free glassiness") or extrinsic, in the sense that a topological phase simply coexists with standard freezing of impurities. Here, we demonstrate a surprising third alternative, namely that freezing and topological liquidity are inseparably linked. The topological phase reacts to the introduction of disorder by generating degrees of freedom of a new type (along with interactions between them), which in turn undergo a freezing transition while the topological phase supporting them remains intact.