Pristine graphene contacts to exfoliated α-RuCl3 crystals

ORAL

Abstract

The layered Mott insulator α-RuCl3 has garnered significant attention as a candidate to host a Kitaev quantum spin liquid, harboring fractionalized excitations and Majorana fermion-like spin excitations. Though significant progress has been made toward understanding how these phenomena manifest in α-RuCl3, experimental procedures to date have largely consisted of probes for pristine bulk samples. However a-RuCl3 may be readily exfoliated down to monolayer thicknesses. We show that we can achieve good electrical contact to α-RuCl3 using monolayer graphene, enabling direct measurement of the resistivity. In this talk, we present device configurations for interrogating exfoliated α-RuCl3 crystals in the few-layer limit by the fabrication of graphene/α-RuCl3 heterostructures. We further discuss measurements of the Mott gap via optical spectroscopy.

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Presenters

  • Jesse Balgley

    • Washington University, St. Louis

Authors

  • Jesse Balgley

    • Washington University, St. Louis

  • Boyi Zhou

    • Washington University, St. Louis
    • Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis

  • Paula J Kelley

    • University of Tennessee (Knoxville, USA)
    • Oak Ridge National Lab
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  • David George Mandrus

    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
    • University of Tennessee-Knoxville
    • Oak Ridge National Lab
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee (Knoxville, USA)
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville
    • Department of Material Science & Engineering, University of Tennessee
    • Material Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee
    • Materials Science and Technology, Materials Science and Technology
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Tennessee
    • Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Tennessee
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee

  • Erik Henriksen

    • Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130
    • Washington University in St. Louis
    • Washington Univ
    • Physics, Washington University, St. Louis
    • Washington University, St. Louis
    • Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis