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Title: Monoclinic crystal structure of α - RuCl 3 and the zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state

Journal Article · · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Clarendon Lab.; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab., ISIS Neutron Source
  2. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Clarendon Lab.
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). National High Magnetic Field Lab. (MagLab)
  4. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab., ISIS Neutron Source
  5. Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
  6. Univ. of Frankfurt (Germany). Inst. for Theoretical Physics

We have proposed the layered honeycomb magnet α - RuCl 3 as a candidate to realize a Kitaev spin model with strongly frustrated, bond-dependent, anisotropic interactions between spin-orbit entangled j eff = 1/2 Ru 3 + magnetic moments. We report a detailed study of the three-dimensional crystal structure using x-ray diffraction on untwinned crystals combined with structural relaxation calculations. We consider several models for the stacking of honeycomb layers and find evidence for a parent crystal structure with a monoclinic unit cell corresponding to a stacking of layers with a unidirectional in-plane offset, with occasional in-plane sliding stacking faults, in contrast with the currently assumed trigonal three-layer stacking periodicity. We also report electronic band-structure calculations for the monoclinic structure, which find support for the applicability of the j eff = 1/2 picture once spin-orbit coupling and electron correlations are included. Of the three nearest-neighbor Ru-Ru bonds that comprise the honeycomb lattice, the monoclinic structure makes the bond parallel to the b axis nonequivalent to the other two, and we propose that the resulting differences in the magnitude of the anisotropic exchange along these bonds could provide a natural mechanism to explain the previously reported spin gap in powder inelastic neutron scattering measurements, in contrast to spin models based on the three-fold symmetric trigonal structure, which predict a gapless spectrum within linear spin wave theory. Our susceptibility measurements on both powders and stacked crystals, as well as magnetic neutron powder diffraction, show a single magnetic transition upon cooling below T N ≈ 13 K. Our analysis of our neutron powder diffraction data provides evidence for zigzag magnetic order in the honeycomb layers with an antiferromagnetic stacking between layers. Magnetization measurements on stacked single crystals in pulsed field up to 60 T show a single transition around 8 T for in-plane fields followed by a gradual, asymptotic approach to magnetization saturation, as characteristic of strongly anisotropic exchange interactions.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1352414
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--15-27165
Journal Information:
Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 23 Vol. 92; ISSN 1098-0121; ISSN PRBMDO
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure effects in α -RuCl 3 single crystals via thermal-expansion measurements journal September 2018
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Pressure-induced structural dimerization in the hyperhoneycomb iridate β − Li 2 IrO 3 at low temperatures journal August 2019
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Terahertz excitations in α − RuC l 3 : Majorana fermions and rigid-plane shear and compression modes journal September 2019
Polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy of α − RuCl 3 and evidence of room-temperature two-dimensional magnetic scattering journal October 2019
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Two-step gap opening across the quantum critical point in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet α − RuCl 3 journal January 2020
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Lattice dynamics and structural transition of the hyperhoneycomb iridate β − Li 2 IrO 3 investigated by high-pressure Raman scattering journal February 2020
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Low-temperature crystal and magnetic structure of α − RuCl 3 journal April 2016
Crystal structure and magnetism in α − RuCl 3 : An ab initio study journal April 2016
Challenges in design of Kitaev materials: Magnetic interactions from competing energy scales journal June 2016
Magnetic anisotropy in the Kitaev model systems Na 2 IrO 3 and RuCl 3 journal August 2016
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Zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state with anisotropic correlation lengths in the quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb lattice compound N a 2 C o 2 Te O 6 journal March 2017
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Resonant x-ray scattering reveals possible disappearance of magnetic order under hydrostatic pressure in the Kitaev candidate γ − Li 2 IrO 3 journal July 2017
Majorana dynamical mean-field study of spin dynamics at finite temperatures in the honeycomb Kitaev model journal July 2017
Field-induced quantum criticality in the Kitaev system α − RuCl 3 journal July 2017
Magnetization processes of zigzag states on the honeycomb lattice: Identifying spin models for α − RuCl 3 and Na 2 IrO 3 journal August 2017
Theoretical investigation of magnetic dynamics in α − RuCl 3 journal September 2017
Electronically highly cubic conditions for Ru in α − RuCl 3 journal October 2017
Unconventional spin dynamics in the honeycomb-lattice material α − RuCl 3 : High-field electron spin resonance studies journal December 2017
Competition between spin-orbit coupling, magnetism, and dimerization in the honeycomb iridates: α − Li 2 IrO 3 under pressure journal January 2018
Quantum spin liquid signatures in Kitaev-like frustrated magnets journal February 2018
Role of spin-orbit coupling in the Kugel-Khomskii model on the honeycomb lattice journal March 2018
Magnetic structure and excitation spectrum of the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev magnet β − Li 2 IrO 3 journal March 2018
Effective model with strong Kitaev interactions for α − RuCl 3 journal April 2018
Magnetic field induced evolution of intertwined orders in the Kitaev magnet β − Li 2 IrO 3 journal May 2018
Dynamical and topological properties of the Kitaev model in a [111] magnetic field journal July 2018
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Field-induced magnon excitation and in-gap absorption in the Kitaev candidate RuCl 3 journal September 2018
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Uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure effects in alpha-RuCl3 single crystals via thermal-expansion measurements text January 2017
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