Half-integer quantized thermal Hall conductance without out-of-plane magnetic field in a chiral spin liquid state of α-RuCl<sub>3</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL) displays the fractionalization of quantum spins into Majorana fermions. In magnetic fields, the emergence of Majorana edge current is predicted to manifest itself in the form of half-integer quantized thermal Hall plateau, which has recently been reported for two-dimensional honeycomb material α-RuCl3 [1]. While the conventional electronic Hall effect requires a perpendicular magnetic field, we find that the thermal Hall plateau appears even for a magnetic field with no out-of-plane components. In addition, the topological Chern number determinied by the sign of the quantized thermal Hall conductance is consistent with that expected in the pure Kitaev spin liquid. These results demonstrate that the Kitaev interaction is primarily responsible and that the non-Abelian topological order persists even in the presence of non-Kitaev interactions in α-RuCl3.

[1] Y. Kasahara et al. Nature 559, 227-231 (2018).

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Presenters

  • Yuichi Kasahara

    • Department of Physics, Kyoto University
    • Department of Physics, Kyoto Univ
    • Physics, Kyoto University

Authors

  • Yuichi Kasahara

    • Department of Physics, Kyoto University
    • Department of Physics, Kyoto Univ
    • Physics, Kyoto University

  • Taichi Yokoi

    • Department of Physics, Kyoto University

  • Sixiao Ma

    • Department of Physics, Kyoto University

  • Shigeru Kasahara

    • Department of Physics, Kyoto University
    • Dept. Phys., Kyoto Univ.
    • Kyoto Univ
    • Physics, Kyoto University
    • Kyoto University

  • Takasada Shibauchi

    • Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo
    • Univ of Tokyo-Kashiwanoha
    • Department of Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo
    • Univ of Tokyo
    • Dept. Adv. Mat. Sci., Univ. Tokyo
    • Univ. of Tokyo
    • Department of Advanced Materials Science, The University of Tokyo
    • Department of Advanced Material Science, University of Tokyo

  • Nobuyuki Kurita

    • Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology
    • Tokyo Institute of Technology

  • Hidekazu Tanaka

    • Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology
    • Tokyo Institute of Technology

  • Joji Nasu

    • Department of Physics, Yokohama National University

  • Yukitoshi Motome

    • Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo
    • Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo

  • Ciaran Hickey

    • Univ Cologne
    • Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne
    • University of Cologne

  • Simon Trebst

    • Univ Cologne
    • Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne
    • University of Cologne

  • Yuji Matsuda

    • Department of Physics, Kyoto University
    • Department of Physics, Kyoto Univ
    • Dept. Phys., Kyoto Univ.
    • Kyoto Univ
    • Physics, Kyoto University
    • Kyoto University