Field evolution of magnons in α-RuCl3 by high-resolution polarized terahertz spectroscopy

Wu, Liang; Little, A.; Aldape, E. E.; Rees, D.; Thewalt, E.; Lampen-Kelley, P.; Banerjee, A.; Bridges, C. A.; Yan, J. -Q.; Boone, D.; Patankar, S.; Goldhaber-Gordon, D.; Mandrus, D.; Nagler, S. E.; Altman, E.; Orenstein, J.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.98.094425

Title: Field evolution of magnons in $α - {RuCl}_{3}$ by high-resolution polarized terahertz spectroscopy

Journal Article · 26 September 2018 · Physical Review B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.98.094425 · OSTI ID:1562881

Wu, Liang ^[1]; Little, A. ^[2]; Aldape, E. E. ^[3]; Rees, D. ^[2]; Thewalt, E. ^[2]; Lampen-Kelley, P. ^[4]; Banerjee, A. ^[5]; Bridges, C. A. ^[5]; Yan, J. -Q. ^[5]; Boone, D. ^[6]; Patankar, S. ^[2]; Goldhaber-Gordon, D. ^[6]; Mandrus, D. ^[4]; Nagler, S. E. ^[5]; Altman, E. ^[3]; Orenstein, J. ^[2]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Here, the Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KSL) is a theoretically predicted state of matter whose fractionalized quasiparticles are distinct from bosonic magnons, the fundamental excitation in ordered magnets. The layered honeycomb antiferromagnet α–RuCl₃ is a KSL candidate material, as it can be driven to a magnetically disordered phase by application of an in-plane magnetic field, with H_c ~ 7 T. Here, we report a detailed characterization of the magnetic excitation spectrum of this material by high-resolution time-domain terahertz spectroscopy. We observe two sharp magnon resonances whose frequencies and amplitudes exhibit a discontinuity as a function of applied magnetic field, as well as two broader peaks at higher energy. Below the Néel temperature, we find that linear spin wave theory can account for all of these essential features of the spectra when a C₃-breaking distortion of the honeycomb lattice and the presence of structural domains are taken into account.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: KC2206; AC02-05-CH11231; AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; AC05-00OR22725; GBMF4537

OSTI ID:: 1562881

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1474001; OSTI ID: 1761765

Journal Information:: Physical Review B, Vol. 98, Issue 9; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 38 works

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