α − RuCl 3 : A spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator on a honeycomb lattice
2014; American Physical Society; Volume: 90; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1103/physrevb.90.041112
ISSN1550-235X
AutoresK. W. Plumb, J. P. Clancy, Luke J. Sandilands, V. Vijay Shankar, Yongfeng Hu, Kenneth S. Burch, Hae‐Young Kee, Young‐June Kim,
Tópico(s)Perovskite Materials and Applications
ResumoWe examine the role of spin-orbit coupling in the electronic structure of $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$, in which Ru ions in $4{d}^{5}$ configuration form a honeycomb lattice. Our x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements at the Ru $L$ edges exhibit distinct spectral features associated with the presence of substantial spin-orbit coupling, as well as an anomalously large branching ratio. Furthermore the measured optical spectra can be described very well with first-principles electronic structure calculations obtained by taking into account both spin-orbit coupling and electron correlations. We propose that $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$ is a spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator, and that the bond-dependent Kitaev interaction may be important for understanding magnetism of this compound.
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