Neutron inelastic scattering of the possible quantum spin ice state of Nd2Zr2O7 above ordering temperature

Nd2Zr2O7 is a new candidate for quantum spin ice proposed theoretically. It has a well-isolated dipolar-octupolar doublet with Ising anisotropy as the crystal field ground state of Nd3+ ion and the long range “all-in/all-out” magnetic order as the collective ground state. The spin Hamiltonian extracted from the spin wave excitations observed suggests a quantum spin ice state above the ordering temperature. The goal of this experiment is to investigate dynamical spin correlations of Nd2Zr2O7 above the ordering temperature by performing single crystal inelastic neutron scattering on the Orisis spectrometer. Elastic pinch point pattern and inelastic monopole continuum scattering are expected according to our calculations.