Kondo screening in a Majorana metal
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Kondo impurities provide a nontrivial probe to unravel the character of the excitations of a quantum spin liquid. In the S = 1/2 Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice, Kondo impurities embedded in the spin-liquid host can be screened by itinerant Majorana fermions via gauge-flux binding. Here, we report experimental signatures of metallic-like Kondo screening at intermediate temperatures in the Kitaev honeycomb material α-RuCl3 with dilute Cr3+ (S = 3/2) impurities. The static magnetic susceptibility, the muon Knight shift, and the muon spin-relaxation rate all feature logarithmic divergences, a hallmark of a metallic Kondo effect. Concurrently, the linear coefficient of the magnetic specific heat is large in the same temperature regime, indicating the presence of a host Majorana metal. This observation opens new avenues for exploring uncharted Kondo physics in insulating quantum magnets.
Details
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 7405 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Nature communications |
Volume | 14 (2023) |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 16 Nov 2023 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 37974022 |
---|