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Title: Observing spin fractionalization in the Kitaev spin liquid via temperature evolution of indirect resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  2. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
  3. Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
  4. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Motivated by the ongoing effort to search for high-resolution signatures of quantum spin liquids, we investigate the temperature dependence of the indirect resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) response for the Kitaev honeycomb model. Here, we find that, as a result of spin fractionalization, the RIXS response changes qualitatively at two well-separated temperature scales, TL and TH, which correspond to the characteristic energies of the two kinds of fractionalized excitations, Z2 gauge fluxes and Majorana fermions, respectively. While thermally excited Z2 gauge fluxes at temperature TL lead to a general broadening and softening of the response, the thermal proliferation of Majorana fermions at temperature TH ~ 10TL results in a significant shift of the spectral weight, both in terms of energy and momentum. Due to its exclusively indirect nature, the RIXS process we consider gives rise to a universal magnetic response and, from an experimental perspective, it directly corresponds to the K-edge of Ru3+ in the Kitaev candidate material α–RuCl3.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0018056
OSTI ID:
1637706
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1512831
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 99, Issue 18; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Fermionic response from fractionalization in an insulating two-dimensional magnet text January 2016
Challenges in Design of Kitaev Materials: Magnetic Interactions from Competing Energy Scales text January 2016
Low-energy Spin Dynamics of the Honeycomb Spin Liquid Beyond the Kitaev Limit text January 2016
Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering response of the Kitaev honeycomb model text January 2016
Resonant Raman scattering theory for Kitaev models and their Majorana fermion boundary modes text January 2016
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Cited By (1)

Valence bond fluctuations in the Kitaev spin model journal January 2020

Figures / Tables (5)

FIG. 1(p. 1)figure FIG. 1
FIG. 2(p. 5)figure FIG. 2
FIG. 3(p. 5)figure FIG. 3
FIG. 4(p. 5)figure FIG. 4
FIG. 5(p. 6)figure FIG. 5

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75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
fractionalization
Majorana fermions
quantum spin liquid
honeycomb lattice
Kitaev model
resonant inelastic x-ray scattering