High-field resonant torsion magnetometry as a probe of magnetic phases in honeycomb lattice Na<sub>2</sub>IrO<sub>3</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

We probe magnetoanisotropy of the quasi-2d honeycomb antiferromagnet Na2IrO3 via resonant torsion magnetometry in pulsed fields up to 65T. In recent years, this material has received much experimental and theoretical attention as a candidate for realizing Kitaev spin-liquid physics. At low temperatures, Na2IrO3 has a robust zigzag AFM ground state and unambiguous signatures of any field-induced transition out of this state have remained elusive so far. Our analysis of the magnetoanisotropy reveals unusual field and angular dependence at high field and a possible signature of a field-driven transition to a quantum disordered state, providing strong evidence for a potential quantum spin liquid phase at high field. We will discuss how resonant torsion magnetometry can extract detailed thermodynamic information and show how it is used to map the entire magnetic free energy in real space from data at only a handful of low symmetry angles. These results are compared to the case of related Heisenberg Kitaev material RuCl3.

*A portion of this work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1644779* , the State of Florida and the United States Department of Energy.

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Presenters

  • Christopher Pocs

    • University of Colorado, Boulder
    • Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder

Authors

  • Christopher Pocs

    • University of Colorado, Boulder
    • Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Ian Leahy

    • Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder
    • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Peter Siegfried

    • University of Colorado, Boulder
    • Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Gang Cao

    • University of Colorado, Boulder
    • Department of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder
    • Physics Department, University of Colorado Boulder
    • Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder
    • University of Colorado at Boulder
    • Physics, University of Colorado Boulder

  • Arkady Shekhter

    • National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
    • DC Facility, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
    • Natl High Magnetic Field Lab
    • NHMFL

  • Ross McDonald

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • physics, los alamos national lab
    • NHMFL-PFF, Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos Natl. Lab
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
    • National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, LANL

  • Minhyea Lee

    • University of Colorado, Boulder
    • Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder