Abstract:
The search for a true quantum "spin liquid" - a quantum magnet
which remains disordered at the very lowest temperatures has been
central
to research on quantum magnets for more than three decades.
Following Anderson, most models of quantum spin liquids
proposed to date have been based on frustrated antiferromagnetic
interactions. The resulting spin liquid states involve strong
singlet bonds between spins, which give rise to a gap in the spin
excitation spectrum.
None the less, the best characterized experimental realization of
a quantum spin liquid is believed to occur in two-dimensional
films of solid He III, where the interactions between spins are
predominantly ferromagnetic, and the resulting state is
gapless. This raises the interesting question of whether the
breakdown of long ranged ferromagnetic order offers a
new route exotic magnetic ground states ?
In this talk I review experimental results on unconventional
magnetic order in (quasi) two-dimensional spin systems with
predominantly ferromagnetic interactions, and present recent
theoretical results for novel order parameters in related
models [1,2].
[1] Momoi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 257204 (2006)
[2] Shannon et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 027213 (2006)