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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Dipolar-octupolar correlations and hierarchy of exchange interactions in Ce2Hf2O7

Victor Porée1,*, Anish Bhardwaj2,3,4,†, Elsa Lhotel5, Sylvain Petit6, Nicolas Gauthier7, Han Yan8,9,10, Vladimir Pomjakushin1, Jacques Ollivier11, Jeffrey A. Quilliam7,12 et al.

Andriy H. Nevidomskyy8,13,14, Hitesh J. Changlani2,3,‡, and Romain Sibille1,§

  • 1PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
  • 2Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA
  • 3National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA
  • 4Department of Physics, St. Bonaventure University, New York 14778, USA
  • 5Institut Néel, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38042 Grenoble, France
  • 6LLB, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 7Institut Quantique, Département de Physique, and RQMP, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1
  • 8Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 9Smalley-Curl Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 10Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan
  • 11Institut Laue-Langevin, CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
  • 12Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France
  • 13Rice Center for Quantum Materials and Advanced Materials Institute, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 14Division of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA

  • *Contact author: victor.poree@psi.ch
  • †Contact author: anis.bhardwaj@gmail.com
  • ‡Contact author: hchanglani@fsu.edu
  • §Contact author: romain.sibille@psi.ch
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Phys. Rev. B 112, L180404 – Published 10 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/j451-ztvr

Abstract

High-resolution neutron spectroscopy on Ce2Hf2O7 reveals a correlated state characterized by distinct dipolar scattering signals—quasielastic and inelastic contributions consistent with ‘photon’ and ‘spinon’ excitations in quantum spin ice. These signals coexist with weak octupolar scattering. Fits of thermodynamic data using numerical methods indicate a dominant octupolar exchange, Jx or Jy, with substantial dipolar Jz and minute dipole-octupole Jxz couplings. The Jxz value is corroborated by an independent fit of the neutron scattering amplitude balance between dipolar and octupolar ‘photon’ contributions, highlighting its importance to understand neutron scattering results in this family. Ce2Hf2O7 enriches the landscape of dipole-octupole pyrochlore physics, and reveals a ‘quantum multipolar liquid’ where hybrid correlations involve multiple terms in the moment series expansion, opening questions regarding their intertwining and hierarchy in quantum phases.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, L180404– Published 10 November, 2025
  • Received 16 May 2023
  • Revised 19 February 2024
  • Accepted 19 September 2025
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