Structure and magnetic ground states of spin-orbit coupled compound alpha-RuCl3
ORAL
Abstract
The layered material alpha-RuCl3 is composed of stacks of weakly coupled honeycomb lattices of octahedrally coordinated Ru3$+$ ions.~ The Ru ion ground state has 5 d electrons in the low spin state, with spin-orbit coupling very strong compared to other terms in the single ion Hamiltonian.~ The material is therefore an excellent candidate for investigating possible Heisenberg-Kitaev physics.~ In addition, this compound is very amenable to investigation by neutron scattering to explore the magnetic ground state and excitations in detail.~~In this talk, we discuss the synthesis of phase-pure alpha-RuCl3 and the characterization of the magnetization, susceptibility, and heat-capacity. We also report neutron diffraction on both powder and single crystal alpha-RuCl3, identifying the low temperature magnetic order observed in the material.~ The results, when compared to theoretical calculations, shed light on the relative importance of Kitaev and Heisenberg terms in the Hamiltonian.
*The research is supported by the DOE BES Scientific User Facility Division
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