Imaging Quantum Interference in a Monolayer Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate

Single atomic defects are prominent windows to look into host quantum states because collective responses from the host states emerge as localized states around the defects. Friedel oscillations and Kondo clouds in Fermi liquids are quintessential examples. However, the situation is quite different for quantum spin liquid (QSL), an exotic state of matter with fractionalized quasiparticles and topological order arising from a profound impact of quantum entanglement. Elucidating the underlying local electronic property has been challenging due to the charge neutrality of fractionalized quasiparticles and the insulating nature of QSLs. Here, using spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy, we report atomically resolved images of monolayer <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mrow><a:mi>α</a:mi><a:mtext>−</a:mtext><a:msub><a:mrow><a:mi>RuCl</a:mi></a:mrow><a:mrow><a:mn>3</a:mn></a:mrow></a:msub></a:mrow></a:math>, the most promising Kitaev QSL candidate, on metallic substrates. We find quantum interference in the insulator manifesting as incommensurate and decaying spatial oscillations of the local density of states around defects with a characteristic bias dependence. The oscillation differs from any known spatial structures in its nature and does not exist in other Mott insulators, implying it is an exotic oscillation involved with excitations unique to <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><c:mrow><c:mi>α</c:mi><c:mtext>−</c:mtext><c:msub><c:mrow><c:mi>RuCl</c:mi></c:mrow><c:mrow><c:mn>3</c:mn></c:mrow></c:msub></c:mrow></c:math>. Numerical simulations suggest that the observed oscillation can be reproduced by assuming that itinerant Majorana fermions of Kitaev QSL are scattered across the Majorana Fermi surface. The oscillation provides a new approach to exploring Kitaev QSLs through the local response against defects like Friedel oscillations in metals. Published by the American Physical Society 2024