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Field evolution of magnons in αRuCl3 by high-resolution polarized terahertz spectroscopy

Liang Wu, A. Little, E. E. Aldape, D. Rees, E. Thewalt, P. Lampen-Kelley, A. Banerjee, C. A. Bridges, J.-Q. Yan, D. Boone, S. Patankar, D. Goldhaber-Gordon, D. Mandrus, S. E. Nagler, E. Altman, and J. Orenstein
Phys. Rev. B 98, 094425 – Published 26 September 2018

Abstract

The Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KSL) is a theoretically predicted state of matter whose fractionalized quasiparticles are distinct from bosonic magnons, the fundamental excitation in ordered magnets. The layered honeycomb antiferromagnet αRuCl3 is a KSL candidate material, as it can be driven to a magnetically disordered phase by application of an in-plane magnetic field, with Hc7T. Here, we report a detailed characterization of the magnetic excitation spectrum of this material by high-resolution time-domain terahertz spectroscopy. We observe two sharp magnon resonances whose frequencies and amplitudes exhibit a discontinuity as a function of applied magnetic field, as well as two broader peaks at higher energy. Below the Néel temperature, we find that linear spin wave theory can account for all of these essential features of the spectra when a C3-breaking distortion of the honeycomb lattice and the presence of structural domains are taken into account.

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  • Received 13 June 2018
  • Revised 13 August 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.094425

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Liang Wu1,2,3,*, A. Little1,2, E. E. Aldape1, D. Rees1,2, E. Thewalt1,2, P. Lampen-Kelley4,5, A. Banerjee6, C. A. Bridges7, J.-Q. Yan5, D. Boone8,9, S. Patankar1,2, D. Goldhaber-Gordon10,9, D. Mandrus4,5, S. E. Nagler6, E. Altman1, and J. Orenstein1,2,†

  • 1Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 2Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
  • 4Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
  • 5Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
  • 6Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
  • 7Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
  • 8Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 9Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
  • 10Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

  • *liangwu@sas.upenn.edu
  • jworenstein@lbl.gov

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 9 — 1 September 2018

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