LiCuVO4 is a model system of a 1D spin-1/2 chain that enters a planar spin-spiral ground state below its Néel temperature of 2.4 K due to competing nearest and next nearest neighbor interactions. The spin-spiral state is multiferroic with an electric polarization along the a axis which has been proposed to be caused purely by the spin supercurrent mechanism. With external magnetic fields in c direction TN can be suppressed down to 0 K at 7.4 T. Here we report dynamical measurements of the polarization from P(E)-hysteresis loops, magnetic field dependent pyro-current and non-linear dielectric spectroscopy as well as thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements at very low temperatures. The multiferroic transition is accompanied by strong anomalies in the thermal expansion and magnetostriction coefficients and we find slow switching times of electric domain reversal. Both observations suggest a sizable magnetoelastic coupling in LiCuVO4. By analyzing the non-linear polarization dynamics we derive domain sizes in the nm range that are probably caused by Li defects.

Quantum spin liquids represent a magnetic ground state arising in the presence of strong quantum fluctuations that preclude ordering down to zero temperature and leave clear fingerprints in the excitation spectra. While theory bears a variety of possible quantum spin liquid phases their experimental realization is still scarce. Here, we report experimental evidence for chiral solitons in the S = 1/2 spin chain compound LiCuVO4 from measurements of the complex permittivity ε* in the GHz range. In zero magnetic field our results show short-lived thermally activated chiral fluctuations above the multiferroic phase transition at TN = 2.4 K. In ε* these fluctuations are seen as the slowing down of a relaxation with a critical dynamical exponent νξz ≈ 1.3 in agreement with mean-field predictions. When using a magnetic field to suppress TN towards 0 K the influence of quantum fluctuations increases until the thermally activated fluctuations vanish and only an excitation can be observed in the dielectric response in close proximity to the phase transition below 400 mK. From direct measurements we find this excitation’s energy gap as ESE ≈ 14.1 μeV, which is in agreement with a nearly gapless chiral soliton that has been proposed for LiCuVO4 based on quantum spin liquid theory.

Quantum spin liquids represent a magnetic ground state arising in the presence of strong quantum fluctuations that preclude ordering down to zero temperature and leave clear fingerprints in the excitation spectra.While theory bears a variety of possible quantum spin liquid phases their experimental realization is still scarce. Here, we report the first experimental evidence of a vector-chiral quantum spin liquid state in the S = 1/2 spin chain compound LiCuVO 4 from measurements of the complex permittivity ε * in the GHz range. In zero magnetic field our results show short-lived thermally activated chiral fluctuations above the multiferroic phase transition at T N = 2.4 K with divergent life-times when approaching T N . In ε * this fluctuation dynamics are seen as the slowing down of a relaxation with a critical dynamical exponent ν ξ z ≈ 1.3 in agreement with mean-field predictions. When using a magnetic field to suppress T N towards 0 K the influence of quantum fluctuations is increased until they condense into the chrial spin liquid phase below 400 mK. Within this phase we measure a nearly-gapless chiral soliton excitation with a tiny energy gap of E SE ≈ 14.1 µeV.