Phononic Structure of Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate Material alpha-RuCl3

While many studies have focused on the magnetic excitations in alpha-RuCl3, its vibrational excitation spectrum has remained relatively unexplored. However, understanding phonons in RuCl3 is important for example to analyze the controversial observation of the half-integer thermal quantum Hall effect. We investigate the phononic structure of alpha-RuCl3 via Density Functional Theory calculations and Inelastic Neutron Scattering experiments.