Phononic enhancement and detection of hidden spin-nematicity and dynamics in quantum magnets

TL;DR

This paper introduces a phononic spectroscopic method to detect elusive spin nematic order in quantum magnets, specifically in spin-1 triangular lattice Mott insulators, by analyzing phonon spectra influenced by spin-lattice coupling.

Contribution

It proposes a novel approach to identify hidden spin nematic phases through phonon spectrum analysis, expanding the detection toolkit for multipolar orders in quantum materials.

Findings

Enlarged phase diagram for spin-nematic phases due to phonon integration

Distinct phonon spectral signatures of spin nematic order via spin-lattice coupling

Provides a spectroscopic pathway to detect quadrupolar order in quantum magnets

Abstract

The spin nematic phase, characterized by long-range order of spin quadrupole moments in the absence of dipolar magnetism, presents a significant challenge for conventional experimental detection. We propose a novel method to detect this elusive order in quantum magnets with an illustration in the spin-1 triangular lattice Mott insulator. By integrating out the phonon degrees of freedom, we obtain a phase diagram with substantially enlarged regions for the spin-nematic and spin-nematic-supersolid phases. We then demonstrate that through the spin-lattice coupling, the emergence of spin nematic order imprints a distinctive signature onto the phonon spectra, providing a clear spectroscopic signature for the quadrupolar order accessible via Raman or inelastic X-ray scattering. Our formalism offers a direct and powerful method to uncover the hidden spin nematicity, opening a new pathway for diagnosing multipolar orders in quantum magnets.