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Anisotropic susceptibilities in the honeycomb Kitaev system αRuCl3

P. Lampen-Kelley, S. Rachel, J. Reuther, J.-Q. Yan, A. Banerjee, C. A. Bridges, H. B. Cao, S. E. Nagler, and D. Mandrus
Phys. Rev. B 98, 100403(R) – Published 12 September 2018
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Abstract

The magnetic insulator αRuCl3 is a promising candidate to realize Kitaev interactions on a quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. We perform extensive susceptibility measurements on single crystals of αRuCl3, including angle dependence of the in-plane longitudinal and transverse susceptibilities, which reveal a unidirectional anisotropy within the honeycomb plane. By comparing the experimental results to a high-temperature expansion of a Kitaev-Heisenberg-Γ spin Hamiltonian with bond anisotropy, we find excellent agreement with the observed phase shift and periodicity of the angle-resolved susceptibilities. Within this model, we show that the pronounced difference between in-plane and out-of-plane susceptibilities as well as the finite transverse susceptibility are rooted in strong symmetric off-diagonal Γ spin exchange. The Γ couplings and relationships between other terms in the model Hamiltonian are quantified by extracting relevant Curie-Weiss intercepts from the experimental data.

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  • Received 9 February 2018
  • Revised 22 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.100403

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

P. Lampen-Kelley1,2, S. Rachel3,4, J. Reuther5,6, J.-Q. Yan2, A. Banerjee7, C. A. Bridges8, H. B. Cao7, S. E. Nagler7, and D. Mandrus1,2

  • 1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
  • 2Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
  • 3School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
  • 4Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany
  • 5Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
  • 6Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, D-14109 Berlin, Germany
  • 7Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
  • 8Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 10 — 1 September 2018

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