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Title: Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of α-RuCl3

Journal Article · · npj Quantum Materials
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [2];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Quantum Condensed Matter Division; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Scattering Division
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division; Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  3. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab., Dept. of Physics
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Scattering Division; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Data Analysis and Visualization Division
  6. Max Planck Inst. for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden (Germany)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The celebrated Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL) is the paradigmatic example of a topological magnet with emergent excitations in the form of Majorana Fermions and gauge fluxes. Upon breaking of time-reversal symmetry, for example in an external magnetic field, these fractionalized quasiparticles acquire non-Abelian exchange statistics, an important ingredient for topologically protected quantum computing. Consequently, there has been enormous interest in exploring possible material realizations of Kitaev physics and several candidate materials have been put forward, recently including α-RuCl3. In the absence of a magnetic field this material orders at a finite temperature and exhibits low-energy spin wave excitations. However, at moderate energies, the spectrum is unconventional and the response shows evidence for fractional excitations. Here in this paper, we use time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering to show that the application of a sufficiently large magnetic field in the honeycomb plane suppresses the magnetic order and the spin waves, leaving a gapped continuum spectrum of magnetic excitations. Our comparisons of the scattering to the available calculations for a Kitaev QSL show that they are consistent with the magnetic field induced QSL phase.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; 703697; GBMF4416
OSTI ID:
1423077
Journal Information:
npj Quantum Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 1; ISSN 2397-4648
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 255 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (32)

Emergence of a field-driven U(1) spin liquid in the Kitaev honeycomb model journal January 2019
Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid journal June 2019
Experimental identification of quantum spin liquids journal April 2019
Dynamical and thermal magnetic properties of the Kitaev spin liquid candidate α-RuCl3 journal January 2020
Observation of two types of fractional excitation in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet journal May 2018
Concept and realization of Kitaev quantum spin liquids journal March 2019
Quasi-degenerate magnetic states in α-RuCl 3 journal December 2018
Raman spectroscopic diagnostic of quantum spin liquids journal October 2019
Seeing beyond the light: Vison and photon electrodynamics in quantum spin ice journal July 2019
Large off-diagonal exchange couplings and spin liquid states in C 3 -symmetric iridates journal October 2019
Two-step gap opening across the quantum critical point in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet α − RuCl 3 journal January 2020
Abelian and non-Abelian chiral spin liquids in a compact tensor network representation journal January 2020
Thermally induced metallic phase in a gapped quantum spin liquid: Monte Carlo study of the Kitaev model with parity projection journal January 2019
Spin dynamics and field-induced magnetic phase transition in the honeycomb Kitaev magnet α − Li 2 IrO 3 journal February 2019
Gapless Kitaev Spin Liquid to Classical String Gas through Tensor Networks journal August 2019
N i 2 M o 3 O 8 : Complex antiferromagnetic order on a honeycomb lattice journal January 2019
Field-induced QCD 3 -Chern-Simons quantum criticalities in Kitaev materials journal January 2020
Quantum robustness and phase transitions of the 3D Toric Code in a field journal January 2019
Pressure-Tuned Interactions in Frustrated Magnets: Pathway to Quantum Spin Liquids? journal December 2019
Observation of two types of fractional excitation in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet text January 2018
Magnetic anisotropy of the alkali iridate Na2IrO3 at high magnetic fields: Evidence for strong ferromagnetic Kitaev correlations text January 2019
Quantum robustness and phase transitions of the 3D Toric Code in a field text January 2019
Uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure effects in alpha-RuCl3 single crystals via thermal-expansion measurements text January 2017
Dynamical and Topological Properties of the Kitaev Model in a [111] Magnetic Field text January 2018
Successive Majorana Topological Transitions Driven by a Magnetic Field in the Kitaev Model text January 2018
Signatures of magnetic-field-driven quantum phase transitions in the entanglement entropy and spin dynamics of the Kitaev honeycomb model text January 2018
Two-step gap opening across the quantum critical point in a Kitaev honeycomb magnet text January 2018
Gapless Kitaev Spin Liquid to Classical String Gas through Tensor Networks text January 2019
Abelian and non-Abelian chiral spin liquids in a compact tensor network representation text January 2019
Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid journal June 2019
Quantum robustness and phase transitions of the 3D Toric Code in a field text January 2019
Emergence of a Field-Driven U(1) Spin Liquid in the Kitaev Honeycomb Model text January 2018

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