Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Angle-resolved photoemission study of the Kitaev candidate α- RuCl3

Journal Article · · Physical Review. B
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [2]
  1. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); DOE/OSTI
  2. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. University of Toronto, ON (Canada)
  4. University of Toronto, ON (Canada); Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
+ Show Author Affiliations

α-RuCl3 has been hinted to be a spin-orbital-assisted Mott insulator in proximity to a Kitaev spin liquid state. Here we present angle-resolved photoemission measurements on single-crystal α-RuCl3 in both the pristine and electron-doped states, and combine them with Local Density Approximation (LDA)+Spin Orbital Coupling (SOC)+U calculations performed for several low-energy competing magnetically ordered states as well as the paramagnetic state. A large Mott gap is found in the measured band structure of the pristine compound that persists to more than 30 times beyond the magnetic ordering temperature, though the paramagnetic calculation shows almost no gap. Upon electron doping, spectral weight is transferred into the gap but the new states still maintain a sizable gap from the Fermi edge. We report that these findings are most consistent with a Mott insulator with a somewhat exotic evolution out of the Mott state with both temperature and doping, likely related to unusually strong spin fluctuations.

Research Organization:
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Canada Foundation for Innovation; Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation; Canada Research Chair
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-03ER46066; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1535781
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1328234
Journal Information:
Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 94; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (31)

Optical and transport properties of the magnetic semiconductor α-RuCl3 journal March 1971
Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond journal January 2006
Moessbauer spectroscopy and magnetization studies of .alpha.- and .beta.-ruthenium trichloride journal October 1992
Anhydrous Ruthenium Chlorides journal September 1963
Spin liquids in frustrated magnets journal March 2010
Proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid behaviour in a honeycomb magnet journal April 2016
Mapping the orbital wavefunction of the surface states in three-dimensional topological insulators journal July 2013
Quantum magnetism and criticality journal March 2008
X-Ray, infrared, and magnetic studies of α- and β-ruthenium trichloride journal January 1967
The Basis of the Electron Theory of Metals, with Special Reference to the Transition Metals journal July 1949
Electronic structure of Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca 1 − x Y x Cu 2 O 8 + δ : Cu 2 p x-ray-photoelectron spectra and occupied and unoccupied low-energy states journal January 1994
Electronic properties of the narrow-band material α- RuCl 3 journal May 1996
Direct evidence of a zigzag spin-chain structure in the honeycomb lattice: A neutron and x-ray diffraction investigation of single-crystal Na 2 IrO 3 journal May 2012
α − RuCl 3 : A spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator on a honeycomb lattice journal July 2014
Successive magnetic phase transitions in α − RuCl 3 : XY-like frustrated magnet on the honeycomb lattice journal March 2015
Magnetic order in α − RuCl 3 : A honeycomb-lattice quantum magnet with strong spin-orbit coupling journal April 2015
Anisotropic Ru 3 +   4 d 5 magnetism in the α − RuCl 3 honeycomb system: Susceptibility, specific heat, and zero-field NMR journal May 2015
Kitaev magnetism in honeycomb RuCl 3 with intermediate spin-orbit coupling journal June 2015
Spin-orbit excitations and electronic structure of the putative Kitaev magnet α − RuCl 3 journal February 2016
Low-temperature crystal and magnetic structure of α − RuCl 3 journal April 2016
Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models journal January 2009
Kitaev-Heisenberg Model on a Honeycomb Lattice: Possible Exotic Phases in Iridium Oxides A 2 IrO 3 journal July 2010
Spin Waves and Revised Crystal Structure of Honeycomb Iridate Na 2 IrO 3 journal March 2012
Na 2 IrO 3 as a Novel Relativistic Mott Insulator with a 340-meV Gap journal December 2012
Generic Spin Model for the Honeycomb Iridates beyond the Kitaev Limit journal February 2014
Scattering Continuum and Possible Fractionalized Excitations in α − RuCl 3 journal April 2015
Doping a Mott insulator: Physics of high-temperature superconductivity journal January 2006
Non-Abelian anyons and topological quantum computation journal September 2008
An End to the Drought of Quantum Spin Liquids journal September 2008
Highly Mobile Gapless Excitations in a Two-Dimensional Candidate Quantum Spin Liquid journal June 2010
The Resonating Valence Bond State in La2CuO4 and Superconductivity journal March 1987

Similar Records

Theoretical study of the crystal and electronic properties of α-RuI3
Journal Article · Thu Feb 03 23:00:00 EST 2022 · Physical Review. B · OSTI ID:1870232

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DFT+U
Kitaev model
Mott insulators
angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
spin liquid