Structural Transition and Magnetic Anisotropy in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$

Abstract

We report X-ray diffraction and magnetic susceptibility studies of the structural phase transition in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$. By utilizing a single crystal sample with predominantly single twin domain, we show that $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$ goes from high-temperature C2/m structure to a rhombohedral structure with R$\bar{3}$ symmetry at low temperature. While the defining feature of the structural transition is changing the stacking direction from the monoclinic a-axis to the b-axis, bond-anisotropy disappears when the structural change occurs, indicating that the local $C_3$ symmetry is restored within the honeycomb layer. The symmetry change is corroborated by the vanishing magnetic anisotropy in the low-temperature structure. Our study demonstrates that magnetic interaction is extremely sensitive to structural details in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$, which could explain the sample dependence found in this material.