skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Low-temperature crystal and magnetic structure of α – RuCl3

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Here, single crystals of the Kitaev spin-liquid candidate α – RuCl3 have been studied to determine the low-temperature bulk properties, the structure, and the magnetic ground state. Refinements of x-ray diffraction data show that the low-temperature crystal structure is described by space group C2/m with a nearly perfect honeycomb lattice exhibiting less than 0.2% in-plane distortion. The as-grown single crystals exhibit only one sharp magnetic transition at TN = 7 K. The magnetic order below this temperature exhibits a propagation vector of k=(0,1,1/3), which coincides with a three-layer stacking of the C2/m unit cells. Magnetic transitions at higher temperatures up to 14 K can be introduced by deformations of the crystal that result in regions in the crystal with a two-layer stacking sequence. The best-fit symmetry-allowed magnetic structure of the as-grown crystals shows that the spins lie in the ac plane, with a zigzag configuration in each honeycomb layer. The three-layer repeat out-of-plane structure can be refined as a 120° spiral order or a collinear structure with a spin direction of 35° away from the a axis. The collinear spin configuration yields a slightly better fit and also is physically preferred. The average ordered moment in either structure is less than 0.45(5) μB per Ru3+ ion.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1255683
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1248067
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 93, Issue 13; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 226 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (43)

Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond journal January 2006
Non-Abelian anyons and topological quantum computation journal September 2008
Highly Mobile Gapless Excitations in a Two-Dimensional Candidate Quantum Spin Liquid journal June 2010
Fractionalized excitations in the spin-liquid state of a kagome-lattice antiferromagnet journal December 2012
Dynamics of a Two-Dimensional Quantum Spin Liquid: Signatures of Emergent Majorana Fermions and Fluxes journal May 2014
Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models journal January 2009
Antiferromagnetic Mott insulating state in single crystals of the honeycomb lattice material Na 2 IrO 3 journal August 2010
Unconventional magnetic order on the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev lattice in β Li 2 IrO 3 : Full solution via magnetic resonant x-ray diffraction journal November 2014
Spin-Orbit Physics Giving Rise to Novel Phases in Correlated Systems: Iridates and Related Materials journal March 2016
Direct evidence for dominant bond-directional interactions in a honeycomb lattice iridate Na2IrO3 journal May 2015
Relevance of the Heisenberg-Kitaev Model for the Honeycomb Lattice Iridates A 2 IrO 3 journal March 2012
Zigzag Magnetic Order in the Iridium Oxide Na 2 IrO 3 journal February 2013
Noncoplanar and Counterrotating Incommensurate Magnetic Order Stabilized by Kitaev Interactions in γ Li 2 IrO 3 journal November 2014
Spin Waves and Revised Crystal Structure of Honeycomb Iridate Na 2 IrO 3 journal March 2012
Direct evidence of a zigzag spin-chain structure in the honeycomb lattice: A neutron and x-ray diffraction investigation of single-crystal Na 2 IrO 3 journal May 2012
Magnetic order in α RuCl 3 : A honeycomb-lattice quantum magnet with strong spin-orbit coupling journal April 2015
Scattering Continuum and Possible Fractionalized Excitations in α RuCl 3 journal April 2015
Anisotropic Ru 3 +   4 d 5 magnetism in the α RuCl 3 honeycomb system: Susceptibility, specific heat, and zero-field NMR journal May 2015
Moessbauer spectroscopy and magnetization studies of .alpha.- and .beta.-ruthenium trichloride journal October 1992
Monoclinic crystal structure of α RuCl 3 and the zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state journal December 2015
Proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid behaviour in a honeycomb magnet journal April 2016
Successive magnetic phase transitions in α RuCl 3 : XY-like frustrated magnet on the honeycomb lattice journal March 2015
Anhydrous Ruthenium Chlorides journal September 1963
X-Ray, infrared, and magnetic studies of α- and β-ruthenium trichloride journal January 1967
Kitaev-Heisenberg Model on a Honeycomb Lattice: Possible Exotic Phases in Iridium Oxides A 2 IrO 3 journal July 2010
Generic Spin Model for the Honeycomb Iridates beyond the Kitaev Limit journal February 2014
Hidden symmetries of the extended Kitaev-Heisenberg model: Implications for the honeycomb-lattice iridates A 2 IrO 3 journal July 2015
Phase Diagram and Quantum Order by Disorder in the Kitaev K 1 K 2 Honeycomb Magnet journal December 2015
Experimental and theoretical studies of the mica polymorphs journal September 1956
Die struktur des IrBr3 und über die ursachen der fehlordnungserscheinungen bei den in schichtenstrukturen kristallisierenden edelmetalltrihalogeniden journal July 1968
α- and β-ruthenium trichloride journal June 1965
A short history of SHELX journal December 2007
WinGX and ORTEP for Windows : an update journal July 2012
Automated determination of the extinction symbol via electron diffraction data journal March 2012
VESTA : a three-dimensional visualization system for electronic and structural analysis journal May 2008
Four-circle single-crystal neutron diffractometer at the High Flux Isotope Reactor journal May 2011
Recent advances in magnetic structure determination by neutron powder diffraction journal October 1993
The Lattice Vibration Specific Heat of Graphite journal October 1953
Cation Ordering in Layered O3 Li[Ni x Li 1/3 - 2 x /3 Mn 2/ 3 - x /3 ]O 2 (0 ≤ x1 / 2 ) Compounds journal May 2005
Orbital Order and Fluctuations in Mott Insulators journal January 2005
Non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation text January 2007
Generic spin model for the honeycomb iridates beyond the Kitaev limit text January 2013
Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond text January 2005

Cited By (40)

Resonant torsion magnetometry in anisotropic quantum materials journal September 2018
Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid journal June 2019
Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of α-RuCl3 journal February 2018
Path to stable quantum spin liquids in spin-orbit coupled correlated materials journal April 2018
Dynamical and thermal magnetic properties of the Kitaev spin liquid candidate α-RuCl3 journal January 2020
Switching 2D magnetic states via pressure tuning of layer stacking journal October 2019
Pressure-controlled interlayer magnetism in atomically thin CrI3 journal October 2019
Enhancement of interlayer exchange in an ultrathin two-dimensional magnet journal September 2019
Kitaev exchange and field-induced quantum spin-liquid states in honeycomb α-RuCl3 journal November 2016
Electronic Structure of the Kitaev Material α-RuCl3 Probed by Photoemission and Inverse Photoemission Spectroscopies journal December 2016
Strain effects on electronic and magnetic properties of the monolayer α - RuCl 3: A first-principles and Monte Carlo study journal February 2019
Quasi-degenerate magnetic states in α-RuCl 3 journal December 2018
Two-step gap opening across the quantum critical point in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet α RuCl 3 journal January 2020
Selection of direction of the ordered moments in Na 2 IrO 3 and α RuCl 3 journal August 2016
Interlayer coupling effect on a bilayer Kitaev model journal March 2018
Field evolution of magnons in α RuCl 3 by high-resolution polarized terahertz spectroscopy journal September 2018
Chiral spin order in some purported Kitaev spin-liquid compounds journal November 2018
Magnetic anisotropy of the alkali iridate Na 2 IrO 3 at high magnetic fields: Evidence for strong ferromagnetic Kitaev correlations journal February 2019
Hydrated lithium intercalation into the Kitaev spin liquid candidate material α − RuCl 3 journal June 2019
Magnetic ordering with an XY-like anisotropy in the honeycomb lattice iridates ZnIrO 3 and MgIrO 3 synthesized via a metathesis reaction journal May 2018
Field-induced QCD 3 -Chern-Simons quantum criticalities in Kitaev materials journal January 2020
Weak-field induced nonmagnetic state in a Co-based honeycomb journal January 2020
Neutron scattering in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl 3 journal June 2017
Quantum spin liquids journal January 2020
Pressure-Tuned Interactions in Frustrated Magnets: Pathway to Quantum Spin Liquids? journal December 2019
Crystal and Magnetic Structures in Layered, Transition Metal Dihalides and Trihalides journal April 2017
Majorana fermions in the Kitaev quantum spin system α-RuCl3 journal September 2017
Concept and realization of Kitaev quantum spin liquids journal March 2019
2D proximate quantum spin liquid state in atomic-thin α -RuCl 3 journal November 2018
Observation of two types of fractional excitation in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet text January 2018
Observation of two types of fractional excitation in the Kitaev honeycomb magnet journal May 2018
Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of α-RuCl3 text January 2018
Magnetic anisotropy of the alkali iridate Na2IrO3 at high magnetic fields: Evidence for strong ferromagnetic Kitaev correlations text January 2019
Neutron scattering in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl3. text January 2017
Challenges in Design of Kitaev Materials: Magnetic Interactions from Competing Energy Scales text January 2016
Crystal and Magnetic Structures in Layered, Transition Metal Dihalides and Trihalides text January 2017
Uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure effects in alpha-RuCl3 single crystals via thermal-expansion measurements text January 2017
Interlayer Coupling Effect on a Bilayer Kitaev Model text January 2017
Two-step gap opening across the quantum critical point in a Kitaev honeycomb magnet text January 2018
Microscopic mechanism for higher-spin Kitaev model text January 2019

Similar Records

Monoclinic crystal structure of α-RuCl3 and the zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state
Journal Article · Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics · OSTI ID:1255683

Field-induced intermediate ordered phase and anisotropic interlayer interactions in α-RuCl3
Journal Article · Thu May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Physical Review B · OSTI ID:1255683

Stacking disorder and thermal transport properties of α-RuCl3
Journal Article · Mon Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Physical Review Materials · OSTI ID:1255683