Magnon-spinon dichotomy in the Kitaev hyperhoneycomb $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$

TL;DR

This study investigates magnetic excitations in the hyperhoneycomb iridate $eta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$, revealing a high-energy continuum indicative of Majorana fermions, supporting the presence of Kitaev spin liquid physics.

Contribution

First direct high-resolution RIXS measurements of $eta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ showing coexistence of spin waves and a Majorana fermion continuum, advancing understanding of Kitaev spin liquids.

Findings

Dispersing spin waves observed up to 16 meV.

A broad continuum centered around 35 meV persists at high temperatures.

High-energy continuum suggests long-lived Majorana fermions.

Abstract

The family of edge-sharing tri-coordinated iridates and ruthenates has emerged in recent years as a major platform for Kitaev spin liquid physics, where spins fractionalize into emergent magnetic fluxes and Majorana fermions with Dirac-like dispersions. While such exotic states are usually pre-empted by long-range magnetic order at low temperatures, signatures of Majorana fermions with long coherent times have been predicted to manifest at intermediate and higher energy scales, similar to the observation of spinons in quasi-1D spin chains. Here we present a Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering study of the magnetic excitations of the hyperhoneycomb iridate $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ under a magnetic field with a record-high-resolution spectrometer. At low-temperatures, dispersing spin waves can be resolved around the predicted intertwined incommensurate spiral and field-induced zigzag orders, whose excitation energy reaches a maximum of 16meV. A 2T magnetic field softens the dispersion around ${\bf Q}=0$. The behavior of the spin waves under magnetic field is consistent with our semiclassical calculations for the ground state and the dynamical spin structure factor, which further predicts that the ensued intertwined uniform states remain robust up to very high fields (100 T). Most saliently, the low-energy magnon-like mode is superimposed by a broad continuum of excitations, centered around 35meV and extending up to 100meV. This high-energy continuum survives up to at least 300K -- well above the ordering temperature of 38K -- and gives evidence for pairs of long-lived Majorana fermions of the proximate Kitaev spin liquid.