Inelastic neutron scattering of the layered Kitaev ferromagnet Li$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$

Abdul Basit; Richard A. Mole; Alex J. Brown; Jiatu Liu; Chris D. Ling; Stephan Rachel

paper

Inelastic neutron scattering of the layered Kitaev ferromagnet Li $_{3}$ Co $_{2}$ SbO $_{6}$

arXiv:2605.27518

Abstract

Cobalt-based quantum magnets forming layered honeycomb arrangements have attracted much attention recently, as they are considered as a potential platform for materials with exotic Kitaev spin exchange. Amongst the discussed candidate materials are Na $_{3}$ Co $_{2}$ SbO $_{6}$ and Na $_{2}$ Co $_{2}$ TeO $_{6}$ , both possessing a low-temperature ground state with some form of antiferromagnetic ordering (zigzag or triple- $Q$ ), similar to Na $_{2}$ IrO $_{3}$ and $I^\pm$ -RuCl $_{3}$ . Here we report inelastic neutron scattering experiments on the quantum magnet Li $_{3}$ Co $_{2}$ SbO $_{6}$ , which features ferromagnetic honeycomb planes with opposite magnetizations in neighboring planes. By comparing with linear spin wave theory, we show that the magnetic properties of Li $_{3}$ Co $_{2}$ SbO $_{6}$ can be well-modelled by an extended Kitaev--Heisenberg model, establishing it as a Kitaev-ferromagnet, or more specifically, as a Kitaev A-type antiferromagnet. Our analysis is complemented by magnetic field measurements and simulations.

14 pages, 12 figures; v2: references added

Inelastic neutron scattering of the layered Kitaev ferromagnet Li3​Co2​SbO6​

Abstract

Inelastic neutron scattering of the layered Kitaev ferromagnet Li $_{3}$ Co $_{2}$ SbO $_{6}$