Freezing of the Lattice in the Kagome Lattice Heisenberg Antiferromagnet Zn-Barlowite ZnCu 3 (OD) 6 FBr
Here, we use 79 Br nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) to demonstrate that ultraslow lattice dynamics set in below the temperature scale set by the Cu-Cu superexchange interaction J (≃160 K) in the kagome lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet Zn-barlowite. The lattice completely freezes below 50 K, and 79 Br NQR line shapes become twice broader due to increased lattice distortions. Moreover, the frozen lattice exhibits an oscillatory component in the transverse spin echo decay, a typical signature of pairing of nuclear spins by indirect nuclear spin-spin interaction. This indicates that some Br sites form structural dimers via a pair of kagome Cu sites prior to the gradual emergence of spin singlets below ~30 K. Our findings underscore the significant roles played by subtle structural distortions in determining the nature of the disordered magnetic ground state of the kagome lattice.