Origin of oscillatory structures in the magnetothermal conductivity of the putative Kitaev magnet $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$

Abstract

The layered honeycomb magnet $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$ has been suggested to exhibit a field-induced quantum spin liquid state, in which the reported large thermal Hall effect close to the half-quantized value still remains a subject of debate. Recently, oscillatory structures of the magnetothermal conductivity were reported and interpreted as quantum oscillations of charge-neutral particles. To investigate the origin of these oscillatory structures, we performed a comprehensive measurement of the in-plane magnetothermal conductivity $\kappa (H)$ down to low temperature (100 mK), as well as magnetization $M$, for single crystals grown by two different techniques: Bridgman and chemical vapor transport. The results show a series of dips in $\kappa (H)$ and peaks in the field derivative of $M$ located at the same fields independent of the growth method. We argue that these structures originate from field-induced phase transitions rather than quantum oscillations. The positions of several of these features are temperature-dependent and connected to the magnetic phase transitions in zero field: the main transition at 7 K and weaker additional transitions which likely arise from secondary phases at 10 K and 13 K. In contrast to what is expected for quantum oscillations, the magnitude of the structure in $\kappa (H)$ is smaller for the higher conductivity crystal and decreases rapidly upon cooling below 1 K.

References in corpus (10)

• Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models
• $\alpha$-RuCl3: a Spin-Orbit Assisted Mott Insulator on a Honeycomb Lattice
• Magnetic order in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$: a honeycomb lattice quantum magnet with strong spin-orbit coupling
• Successive magnetic phase transitions in $\mathbf{\alpha }$-RuCl${}_3$: XY-like frustrated magnet on the honeycomb lattice
• Robustness of the thermal Hall effect close to half-quantization in a field-induced spin liquid state
• Evidence of a Phonon Hall Effect in the Kitaev Spin Liquid Candidate $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Proximate ferromagnetic state in the Kitaev model material $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Angle-dependent thermodynamics of $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• High-field thermal transport properties of the Kitaev quantum magnet alpha-RuCl3: evidence for low-energy excitations beyond the critical field
• Stacking faults in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$ revealed by local electric polarization

Cited by in corpus (26)

• Majorana-fermion origin of the planar thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev magnet $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Oscillations in the magnetothermal conductivity of $\mathbf{\alpha }$-RuCl${}_3$: Evidence of transition anomalies
• Symmetry-based requirement for the measurement of electrical and thermal Hall conductivity under an in-plane magnetic field
• Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquids
• Stacking disorder and thermal transport properties of $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Spin-liquid insulators can be Landau's Fermi liquids
• Unconventional Magnetic Oscillations in Kagome Mott Insulators
• The sample-dependent and sample-independent thermal transport properties of $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Evidence for the first-order topological phase transition in a Kitaev spin liquid candidate $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Phonon thermal transport shaped by strong spin-phonon scattering in a Kitaev material Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• The Saga of $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$: Parameters, Models, and Phase Diagrams
• Two-step growth of high-quality single crystals of the Kitaev magnet $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Charge-Neutral Electronic Excitations in Quantum Insulators
• Weak-coupling to strong-coupling quantum criticality crossover in a Kitaev quantum spin liquid $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Short-range order and hidden energy scale in geometrically frustrated magnets
• Magnetothermal transport in ultraclean single crystals of Kitaev magnet $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$
• Quantum Oscillations in an Impurity-Band Anderson Insulator
• Multinode quantum spin liquids in extended Kitaev honeycomb models: the view from variational Monte Carlo
• Intermediate field-induced phase of the honeycomb magnet BaCo${}_2$(AsO${}_4$)${}_2$
• The Detection of Unconventional Quantum Oscillations in Insulating 2D Materials
• Anyon polarons as a window into competing phases of the Kitaev honeycomb model under a Zeeman field
• Intermediate phases in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$ under in-plane magnetic field via interlayer spin interactions
• Thermal decomposition of the Kitaev material $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$ and its influence on low-temperature behavior
• Jordan-Wigner composite-fermion liquids in 2D quantum spin-ice
• Direct probe of magnetic field effects on phonons by ultrasound propagation in a quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb magnet Na${}_2$Co${}_2$TeO${}_6$
• Anomalies in the thermal conductivity of honeycomb antiferromagnet MnPS${}_3$