Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3

Czajka, Peter; Gao, Tong; Hirschberger, Max; Lampen-Kelley, Paula; Banerjee, Arnab; Quirk, Nicholas; Mandrus, David G.; Nagler, Stephen E.; Ong, N. P.

doi:10.1038/s41563-022-01397-w

Title: Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl₃

Abstract

The honeycomb magnet α-RuCl₃ has attracted considerable interest because it is proximate to the Kitaev Hamiltonian whose excitations are Majoranas and vortices. The thermal Hall conductivity κ_xy of Majorana fermions is predicted to be half-quantized. Half-quantization of κxy/T (T, temperature) was recently reported, but this observation has proven difficult to reproduce. Here, we report detailed measurements of κ_xy on α-RuCl3 with the magnetic field B ∥ a (zigzag axis). In our experiment, κ_xy/T is observed to be strongly temperature dependent between 0.5 and 10 K. We show that its temperature profile matches the distinct form expected for topological bosonic modes in a Chern-insulator-like model. Our analysis yields magnon band energies in agreement with spectroscopic experiments. At high B, the spin excitations evolve into magnon-like modes with a Chern number of ~1. In conclusion, the bosonic character is incompatible with half-quantization of κ_xy/T.

Authors:

^[1];

^[2]; Lampen-Kelley, Paula ^[3];

^[4];

^[1]; Mandrus, David G. ^[3];

^[5];

^[1]

Princeton University, NJ (United States)
University of Tokyo (Japan)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2022

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 2203828

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Materials

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 22; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1476-1122

Publisher:: Springer Nature

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats


                    Czajka, Peter, Gao, Tong, Hirschberger, Max, Lampen-Kelley, Paula, Banerjee, Arnab, Quirk, Nicholas, Mandrus, David G., Nagler, Stephen E., and Ong, N. P. Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3.  United States: N. p., 2022. 
Web.  doi:10.1038/s41563-022-01397-w.

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                    Czajka, Peter, Gao, Tong, Hirschberger, Max, Lampen-Kelley, Paula, Banerjee, Arnab, Quirk, Nicholas, Mandrus, David G., Nagler, Stephen E., & Ong, N. P. Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01397-w

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                    Czajka, Peter, Gao, Tong, Hirschberger, Max, Lampen-Kelley, Paula, Banerjee, Arnab, Quirk, Nicholas, Mandrus, David G., Nagler, Stephen E., and Ong, N. P. Thu .  
"Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01397-w.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/2203828.

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@article{osti_2203828,

  title        = {Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3},

  author       = {Czajka, Peter and Gao, Tong and Hirschberger, Max and Lampen-Kelley, Paula and Banerjee, Arnab and Quirk, Nicholas and Mandrus, David G. and Nagler, Stephen E. and Ong, N. P.},

  abstractNote = {The honeycomb magnet α-RuCl3 has attracted considerable interest because it is proximate to the Kitaev Hamiltonian whose excitations are Majoranas and vortices. The thermal Hall conductivity κxy of Majorana fermions is predicted to be half-quantized. Half-quantization of κxy/T (T, temperature) was recently reported, but this observation has proven difficult to reproduce. Here, we report detailed measurements of κxy on α-RuCl3 with the magnetic field B ∥ a (zigzag axis). In our experiment, κxy/T is observed to be strongly temperature dependent between 0.5 and 10 K. We show that its temperature profile matches the distinct form expected for topological bosonic modes in a Chern-insulator-like model. Our analysis yields magnon band energies in agreement with spectroscopic experiments. At high B, the spin excitations evolve into magnon-like modes with a Chern number of ~1. In conclusion, the bosonic character is incompatible with half-quantization of κxy/T.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41563-022-01397-w},

  journal      = {Nature Materials},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 22,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2022},

  month        = {Thu Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2022}

}

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Title: Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl3

Abstract

Citation Formats

Proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid behaviour in a honeycomb magnet journal, April 2016

Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond journal, January 2006

Emergence of a field-driven U(1) spin liquid in the Kitaev honeycomb model journal, January 2019

Robustness of the thermal Hall effect close to half-quantization in α-RuCl3 journal, February 2022

Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of α-RuCl3 journal, February 2018

Finite field regime for a quantum spin liquid in α − RuCl 3 journal, August 2019

Half-integer quantized anomalous thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev material candidate α-RuCl 3 journal, July 2021

Symmetry analysis of tensors in the honeycomb lattice of edge-sharing octahedra journal, April 2021

Quantized thermal transport in the fractional quantum Hall effect journal, June 1997

Quantum spin liquids: a review journal, November 2016

Signatures of low-energy fractionalized excitations in α − RuCl 3 from field-dependent microwave absorption journal, November 2018

Unusual Phonon Heat Transport in α − RuCl 3 : Strong Spin-Phonon Scattering and Field-Induced Spin Gap journal, March 2018

Large thermal Hall conductivity of neutral spin excitations in a frustrated quantum magnet journal, April 2015

Majorana quantization and half-integer thermal quantum Hall effect in a Kitaev spin liquid journal, July 2018

Probing α − RuCl 3 Beyond Magnetic Order: Effects of Temperature and Magnetic Field journal, February 2018

Observation of the Magnon Hall Effect journal, July 2010

Topological excitations in the ferromagnetic Kitaev-Heisenberg model journal, August 2018

Nature of Magnetic Excitations in the High-Field Phase of α − RuCl 3 journal, July 2020

Topological magnons in Kitaev magnets at high fields journal, August 2018

Oscillations of the thermal conductivity in the spin-liquid state of α-RuCl3 journal, May 2021

Anomalous Hall effect in ZrTe5 journal, March 2018

Anomalous Thermal Conductivity and Magnetic Torque Response in the Honeycomb Magnet α − RuCl 3 journal, May 2017

α − RuCl 3 : A spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator on a honeycomb lattice journal, July 2014

Topological magnons for thermal Hall transport in frustrated magnets with bond-dependent interactions journal, May 2021

Rotational motion of magnons and the thermal Hall effect journal, November 2011

Pseudoscalar U(1) spin liquids in α − RuCl 3 journal, November 2021

Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid journal, June 2019

Unconventional spin dynamics in the honeycomb-lattice material α − RuCl 3 : High-field electron spin resonance studies journal, December 2017

Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models journal, January 2009

Sign Structure of Thermal Hall Conductivity and Topological Magnons for In-Plane Field Polarized Kitaev Magnets journal, April 2021

Title: Planar thermal Hall effect of topological bosons in the Kitaev magnet α-RuCl₃

Proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid behaviour in a honeycomb magnet
journal, April 2016

Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond
journal, January 2006

Emergence of a field-driven U(1) spin liquid in the Kitaev honeycomb model
journal, January 2019

Robustness of the thermal Hall effect close to half-quantization in α-RuCl3
journal, February 2022

Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of α-RuCl3
journal, February 2018

Finite field regime for a quantum spin liquid in $α − {RuCl}_{3}$
journal, August 2019

Half-integer quantized anomalous thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev material candidate α-RuCl ₃
journal, July 2021

Symmetry analysis of tensors in the honeycomb lattice of edge-sharing octahedra
journal, April 2021

Quantized thermal transport in the fractional quantum Hall effect
journal, June 1997

Quantum spin liquids: a review
journal, November 2016

Signatures of low-energy fractionalized excitations in $α − {RuCl}_{3}$ from field-dependent microwave absorption
journal, November 2018

Unusual Phonon Heat Transport in $α − {RuCl}_{3}$ : Strong Spin-Phonon Scattering and Field-Induced Spin Gap
journal, March 2018

Large thermal Hall conductivity of neutral spin excitations in a frustrated quantum magnet
journal, April 2015

Majorana quantization and half-integer thermal quantum Hall effect in a Kitaev spin liquid
journal, July 2018

Probing $α - {RuCl}_{3}$ Beyond Magnetic Order: Effects of Temperature and Magnetic Field
journal, February 2018

Observation of the Magnon Hall Effect
journal, July 2010

Topological excitations in the ferromagnetic Kitaev-Heisenberg model
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Nature of Magnetic Excitations in the High-Field Phase of $α − {RuCl}_{3}$
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Topological magnons in Kitaev magnets at high fields
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Anomalous Thermal Conductivity and Magnetic Torque Response in the Honeycomb Magnet $α − {RuCl}_{3}$
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$α - {RuCl}_{3}$ : A spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator on a honeycomb lattice
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Pseudoscalar U(1) spin liquids in $α − {RuCl}_{3}$
journal, November 2021

Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid
journal, June 2019

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