Unusual heat transport of the Kitaev material Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$: putative quantum spin liquid and low-energy spin excitations

Abstract

We studied the field dependent thermal conductivity ($\kappa$) of Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$, a compound considered as the manifestation of the Kitaev model based on the high-spin $d^7$ Co${}^{2+}$ ions. We found that in-plane magnetic fields beyond a critical value $B_c\approx$~10 T are able to drastically enhance $\kappa$ at low temperatures, resulting in a double-peak structure of $\kappa (T)$ that closely resembles the behavior of $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$. This result suggests that heat transport in Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$ is primarily phononic, and it is strongly affected by scattering from magnetic excitations that are highly tunable by external fields. Interestingly, for magnetic fields $B//a$ (i.e., along the zigzag direction of the Co-Co bonds), there is an extended field range which separates the long-range magnetic order for $B\le B_c\approx 10$ T and the partially spin-polarized gapped high-field phase for $B\gtrsim 12$ T. The low-energy phonon scattering is particularly strong in this field range, consistent with the notion that the system becomes a quantum spin liquid with prominent spin fluctuations down to energies of no more than 2 meV.

References in corpus (30)

• Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models
• Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism
• Spin-Liquid State in the S = 1/2 Hyperkagome Antiferromagnet Na4Ir3O8
• Scattering Continuum and Possible Fractionalized Excitations in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Hyper-honeycomb iridate $\beta$-Li2IrO3 as a platform for Kitaev magnetism
• Pseudospin exchange interactions in d^7 cobalt compounds: Possible realization of the Kitaev model
• Spin-wave excitations evidencing the Kitaev interaction in single crystalline $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Kitaev-Heisenberg Hamiltonian for High-Spin $d^7$ Mott Insulators
• Anisotropic Ru3+ 4d5 magnetism in the alpha-RuCl3 honeycomb system: susceptibility, specific heat and Zero field NMR
• Kitaev Spin Liquid in 3d Transition Metal Compounds
• Magnetic Excitations and Continuum of a Field-Induced Quantum Spin Liquid in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Non-coplanar and counter-rotating incommensurate magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in $\gamma$-Li2IrO3
• Field-induced quantum spin disordered state in spin-1/2 honeycomb magnet Na2Co2TeO6
• Kitaev interactions in the Co honeycomb antiferromagnets Na${}_3$Co${}_2$SbO${}_6$ and Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Spin-orbit effects in Na${}_4$Ir${}_3$O${}_8$, a hyper-kagomé lattice antiferromagnet
• Magnetic properties of the honeycomb oxide Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Sample dependence of the half-integer quantized thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev candidate $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state with anisotropic correlation lengths in the quasi-2D honeycomb lattice compound Na2Co2TeO6
• Weak-field induced nonmagnetic state in a Co-based honeycomb
• Ferrimagnetism and anisotropic phase tunability by magnetic fields in Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Possible itinerant excitations and quantum spin state transitions in the effective spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Na${}_2$BaCo(PO${}_4$)${}_2$
• Spin-orbit phase behaviors of Na2Co2TeO6 at low temperatures
• Strong quantum fluctuations in a quantum spin liquid candidate with a Co-based triangular lattice
• Kitaev Materials
• Field-induced intermediate ordered phase and anisotropic interlayer interactions in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Giant Phonon Anomalies in the Proximate Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Competing Antiferromagnetic-Ferromagnetic States in $d^7$ Kitaev Honeycomb Magnet
• Universal Thermodynamics in the Kitaev Fractional Liquid
• High-field thermal transport properties of the Kitaev quantum magnet alpha-RuCl3: evidence for low-energy excitations beyond the critical field
• Susceptibility anisotropy and its disorder evolution in models for Kitaev materials

Cited by in corpus (39)

• Excitations in the ordered and paramagnetic states of honeycomb magnet Na2Co2TeO6
• Dominant Kitaev interactions in the honeycomb materials Na${}_3$Co${}_2$SbO${}_6$ and Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Magnetic ground state of the Kitaev Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$ spin liquid candidate
• Ab initio guided minimal model for the "Kitaev" material BaCo${}_2$(AsO${}_4$)${}_2$: Importance of direct hopping, third-neighbor exchange and quantum fluctuations
• Triple-q order in Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$ from proximity to hidden-SU(2)-symmetric point
• Planar Thermal Hall Effects in Kitaev Spin Liquid Candidate Na2Co2TeO6
• Significant thermal Hall effect in the 3$d$ cobalt Kitaev system $N{a}_{2}C{o}_{2}Te{O}_6$
• Thermal Transport of Fractionalized Antiferromagnetic and Field Induced States in the Kitaev Material Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids
• Planar thermal Hall effect from phonons in a Kitaev candidate material
• Easy-plane anisotropic-exchange magnets on a honeycomb lattice: quantum effects and dealing with them
• Phonon thermal transport shaped by strong spin-phonon scattering in a Kitaev material Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Magnetic field-controlled lattice thermal conductivity in MnBi2Te4
• Spin-phonon scattering-induced low thermal conductivity in a van der Waals layered ferromagnet Cr${}_2$Si${}_2$Te${}_6$
• Thermal Hall Effect in the Kitaev-Heisenberg System with Spin-Phonon Coupling
• Field evolution of magnetic phases and spin dynamics in the honeycomb lattice magnet Na2Co2TeO6: 23Na NMR study
• Phononic-magnetic dichotomy of the thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev-Heisenberg candidate material Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Spin vestigial orders in extended Heisenberg-Kitaev models near hidden SU(2) points: Application to Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Comparative Raman Scattering Study of Crystal Field Excitations in Co-based Quantum Magnets
• Evidence of quantum spin liquid state in a Cu${}^{2+}$-based $S=1/2$ triangular lattice antiferromagnet
• Field and Polarization Dependent Quantum Spin Dynamics in Honeycomb Magnet Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$: Magnetic Excitations and Continuum
• Diagonal and off-diagonal thermal conduction with resonant phonon scattering in $N{i}_{3}Te{O}_6$
• Ferrimagnetism from triple-q order in Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Suppression of the antiferromagnetic order by Zn doping in a possible Kitaev material Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Field-Angle-Resolved Specific Heat in Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$: Evidence against Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid
• Static magnetic and ESR spectroscopic properties of the dimer-chain antiferromagnet BiCoPO${}_5$
• Abnormally enhanced Hall Lorenz number in the magnetic Weyl semimetal NdAlSi
• Polar phonons and magnetic excitations in the antiferromagnet CoF${}_2$
• Spin waves in Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$ studied by high-frequency/high-field ESR: Successes and failures of the triple-$\mathbf{q}$ model
• Anisotropic in-plane heat transport of Kitaev magnet Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Heat conduction in magnetic insulators via hybridization of acoustic phonons and spin-flip excitations
• Ferrimagnetism from quantum fluctuations in Kitaev materials
• Contrasting magnetothermal conductivity in sibling Co-based honeycomb-lattice antiferromagnets
• Itinerant and topological excitations in a honeycomb spiral spin liquid candidate
• Field-Angle Dependence of Phonon Thermal Hall Effect in Na2X2TeO6 (X = Co, Zn)
• Using magnetic dynamics to measure the spin gap in a candidate Kitaev material
• Spin disorder state induced by Mg${}^{2+}$ doping in a Kitaev material Na${}_3$Co${}_2$SbO${}_6$
• Direct probe of magnetic field effects on phonons by ultrasound propagation in a quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb magnet Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Anisotropic magnetoelastic coupling in the honeycomb magnet Na${}_3$Co${}_2$SbO${}_6$