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Magnetic Order in α-RuCl3: A Honeycomb-Lattice Quantum Magnet with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

Published

Author(s)

J. A. Sears, M. Songvilay, K. W. Plumb, J. P. Clancy, Yiming Qiu, Yang Zhao, Daniel E. Parshall, Young-June Kim

Abstract

We report magnetic and thermodynamic properties of single crystal α-RuCl3, in which the Ru3+ (4d5) ion is in its low spin state and forms a honeycomb lattice. Two features are observed in both magnetic susceptibility and specific heat data; a sharp peak at 7 K and a broad hump near 10-15K. Our neutron diffraction study of single crystal samples confirms that the low temperature peak in specific heat is associated with a magnetic order with unit cell doubling along the honeycomb (100) direction, which is consistent with so-called zigzag order. In addition, we observe a metamagnetic transition between 5 T and 10 T. The relevance of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model is discussed in regard to the observed magnetic and thermodynamic properties.
Citation
Physical Review B
Volume
91
Issue
14

Keywords

Kitaev-Heisenberg model, honeycomb lattice

Citation

Sears, J. , Songvilay, M. , Plumb, K. , Clancy, J. , Qiu, Y. , Zhao, Y. , Parshall, D. and Kim, Y. (2015), Magnetic Order in &#945;-RuCl<sub>3</sub>: A Honeycomb-Lattice Quantum Magnet with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=917626 (Accessed October 8, 2025)

Issues

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Created April 23, 2015, Updated October 12, 2021
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