Reduction of Effective Terahertz Focal Spot Size By Means Of Nested Concentric Parabolic Reflectors

An ongoing limitation of terahertz spectroscopy is that the technique is generally limited to the study of relatively large samples of order 4 mm across due to the generally large size of the focal beam spot. We present a nested concentric parabolic reflector design which can reduce the terahertz focal spot size. This parabolic reflector design takes advantage of the feature that reflected rays experience a relative time delay which is the same for all paths. The increase in effective optical path for reflected light is equivalent to the aperture diameter itself. We have shown that the light throughput of an aperture of 2 mm can be increased by a factor 15 as compared to a regular aperture of the same size at low frequencies. This technique can potentially be used to reduce the focal spot size in terahertz spectroscopy and enable the study of smaller samples

Valence bond phases of herbertsmithite and related copper kagome materials

Recent evidence from magnetic torque, electron spin resonance, and second harmonic generation indicate that the prototypical quantum spin liquid candidate, herbertsmithite, has a symmetry lower than its x-ray refined trigonal space group. Here we consider known and possible distortions of this mineral class, along with related copper kagome oxides and fluorides, relate these to possible valence bond patterns, and comment on their relevance to the physics of these interesting materials

Low Energy Electrodynamics Of Quantum Magnetism

The manner in which localized spins interact in magnetic insulators is a strongly correlated many-body problem. To date, very few exactly solvable models of such spin interactions exist and those that do are often highly idealized. Therefore, intense experimental effort is devoted to characterizing the ground states of such “quantum magnets.” As nature offers a plethora of materials with various symmetries, geometries, and interactions, the resultant ground states vary from conventional, where the spins essentially behave as classical vectors, to truly quantum, where the quantum mechanical nature of spin cannot be ignored. This thesis focuses on the characterization of magnetic ground states by examining their low energy excitations through their interaction with light. A method for extracting the complex magnetic susceptibility in a transmission measurement is developed and utilized to study the magnetic field and temperature dependence of such excitations. A combination of techniques which probe from the microwave to the terahertz range are used to provide a holistic view of the low energy electrodynamics of these materials. By comparing our results to existing models, we uncover unique magnetic ordering due to low symmetry environments, classical grounds states with unconventional interactions, and quantum ground states with long range entanglement and exotic fractionalized excitations

Hierarchy of exchange interactions in the triangular-lattice spin-liquid YbMgGaO4_{4}

The spin-1/2 triangular lattice antiferromagnet YbMgGaO$_{4}$ has attracted recent attention as a quantum spin-liquid candidate with the possible presence of off-diagonal anisotropic exchange interactions induced by spin-orbit coupling. Whether a quantum spin-liquid is stabilized or not depends on the interplay of various exchange interactions with chemical disorder that is inherent to the layered structure of the compound. We combine time-domain terahertz spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering measurements in the field polarized state of YbMgGaO$_{4}$ to obtain better microscopic insights on its exchange interactions. Terahertz spectroscopy in this fashion functions as high-field electron spin resonance and probes the spin-wave excitations at the Brillouin zone center, ideally complementing neutron scattering. A global spin-wave fit to all our spectroscopic data at fields over 4T, informed by the analysis of the terahertz spectroscopy linewidths, yields stringent constraints on $g$-factors and exchange interactions. Our results paint YbMgGaO$_{4}$ as an easy-plane XXZ antiferromagnet with the combined and necessary presence of sub-leading next-nearest neighbor and weak anisotropic off-diagonal nearest-neighbor interactions. Moreover, the obtained $g$-factors are substantially different from previous reports. This works establishes the hierarchy of exchange interactions in YbMgGaO$_{4}$ from high-field data alone and thus strongly constrains possible mechanisms responsible for the observed spin-liquid phenomenology