Evidence for a field-induced quantum spin liquid in α-RuCl3

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • S. H. Baek - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • S. H. Do - , Chung-Ang University (Author)
  • K. Y. Choi - , Chung-Ang University (Author)
  • Y. S. Kwon - , Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (Author)
  • A. U.B. Wolter - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • S. Nishimoto - , Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Jeroen Van Den Brink - , Chair of Solid State Theory, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • B. Böchner - , Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)

Abstract

We report a 35Cl nuclear magnetic resonance study in the honeycomb lattice α-RuCl3, a material that has been suggested to potentially realize a Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL) ground state. Our results provide direct evidence that α-RuCl3 exhibits a magnetic-field-induced QSL. For fields larger than ∼10 T, a spin gap opens up while resonance lines remain sharp, evidencing that spins are quantum disordered and locally fluctuating. The spin gap increases linearly with an increasing magnetic field, reaching ∼50 K at 15 T, and is nearly isotropic with respect to the field direction. The unusual rapid increase of the spin gap with increasing field and its isotropic nature are incompatible with conventional magnetic ordering and, in particular, exclude that the ground state is a fully polarized ferromagnet. The presence of such a fieldinduced gapped QSL phase has indeed been predicted in the Kitaev model.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number037201
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume119
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jul 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 28777603

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