Low-temperature crystal and magnetic structure ofα−RuCl3

2016/02/29 by Huibo Cao, H. B. Cao, A. Banerjee +13 · 8 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Antiferromagnetism #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Crystal structure #Crystallography #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Magnetic field #Magnetic moment #Magnetic structure #Magnetization #Materials science #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #cond-mat.str-el

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.93.134423

published as Phys. Rev. B 93, 134423 (2016) · 10 pages, 5 figures, and 1 table. Please email any communication to Huibo Cao ([email protected]) and Arnab Banerjee ([email protected])

arxiv created 2016/04/07 · openalex publication_date 2016/04/19 · arxiv updated 2016/04/27 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Single crystals of the Kitaev spin-liquid candidate \ensuremathα\ensuremath-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 T_N=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^\ensuremath∘ spiral order or a collinear structure with a spin direction of 35^\ensuremath∘ 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) \ensuremathμ_B per Ru³⁺ ion.

Citations

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Cited by

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• Unveiling magnetic interactions of ruthenium trichloride via constraining direction of orbital moments: Potential routes to realize a quantum spin liquid
• Thermal and magnetoelastic properties of α-RuCl 3 in the field-induced low temperature states
• Magnetoelastic coupling anisotropy in the Kitaev material α−RuCl3
• Theory of the field-revealed Kitaev spin liquid
• Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of α-RuCl3