Crystal electric field excitations and an effective-spin-1/2 ground doublet in the hyperkagome magnet Yb3Sc2Ga3O12
Abstract
We use inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to determine the crystal electric field (CEF) excitations of Yb3+ in the rare-earth hyperkagome magnet Yb3Sc2Ga3O12. Three nearly dispersionless magnetic excitations are observed near 58, 68, and 74~meV, corresponding to transitions from the ground-state Kramers doublet to the three excited doublets of the J=7/2 multiplet. A Stevens-operator analysis constrained by the local $222$ (D2) symmetry reproduces the excitation energies and spectral weights and yields an Ising-type ground-state g tensor. The first excited doublet lies approximately 58~meV above the ground state, establishing a well-isolated effective Jeff=1/2 degree of freedom over the low-temperature regime relevant to collective magnetism. Notably, the directly measured CEF spectrum substantially revises the level scheme previously inferred from bulk measurements, while preserving the essential low-energy pseudospin description. Two independent fitting protocols give consistent excitation energies, ground-doublet wave functions, and g tensors, despite the nonuniqueness of the individual CEF parameters. The resulting single-ion model also reproduces the characteristic susceptibility, magnetization, and field evolution of the Schottky anomaly in specific heat. These results establish the microscopic single-ion basis needed to construct an effective exchange Hamiltonian and to interpret future measurements of low-energy collective excitations in Yb3Sc2Ga3O12.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026crystal,
title = {{Crystal electric field excitations and an effective-spin-$1/2$ ground doublet in the hyperkagome magnet Yb$_3$Sc$_2$Ga$_3$O$_12$}},
author = {Tingjun Zhang and Zehao Wang and Douglas L. Abernathy and Rong-Zhu Lin and Steven J. Gomez Alvarado and Chien-Lung Huang and Pengcheng Dai},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.29276},
eprint = {2608.29276},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29276},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Crystal electric field excitations and an effective-spin-1/2 ground doublet in the hyperkagome magnet Yb_3Sc_2Ga_3O_12
AU - Tingjun Zhang
AU - Zehao Wang
AU - Douglas L. Abernathy
AU - Rong-Zhu Lin
AU - Steven J. Gomez Alvarado
AU - Chien-Lung Huang
AU - Pengcheng Dai
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.29276
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29276
AB - We use inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to determine the crystal electric field (CEF) excitations of Yb^3+ in the rare-earth hyperkagome magnet Yb_3Sc_2Ga_3O_12. Three nearly dispersionless magnetic excitations are observed near 58, 68, and 74~meV, corresponding to transitions from the ground-state Kramers doublet to the three excited doublets of the J=7/2 multiplet. A Stevens-operator analysis constrained by the local $222$ (D_2) symmetry reproduces the excitation energies and spectral weights and yields an Ising-type ground-state g tensor. The first excited doublet lies approximately 58~meV above the ground state, establishing a well-isolated effective J_eff=1/2 degree of freedom over the low-temperature regime relevant to collective magnetism. Notably, the directly measured CEF spectrum substantially revises the level scheme previously inferred from bulk measurements, while preserving the essential low-energy pseudospin description. Two independent fitting protocols give consistent excitation energies, ground-doublet wave functions, and g tensors, despite the nonuniqueness of the individual CEF parameters. The resulting single-ion model also reproduces the characteristic susceptibility, magnetization, and field evolution of the Schottky anomaly in specific heat. These results establish the microscopic single-ion basis needed to construct an effective exchange Hamiltonian and to interpret future measurements of low-energy collective excitations in Yb_3Sc_2Ga_3O_12.
ER -