Re-investigation of moment direction in a Kitaev material <i>α</i>-RuCl<sub>3</sub>
We report x-ray diffraction and resonant elastic x-ray scattering studies on two<i>α</i>-RuCl<sub>3</sub>crystals with distinct magnetic transition temperatures:TN = 7.3 K and 6.5 K. We find that the sample withTN = 6.5 K exhibits a high degree of stacking faults and structural twinning at low temperature, whereas theTN = 7.3 K sample primarily comprises a single domain of R3¯. Notwithstanding, both samples exhibit an identical zigzag magnetic structure, with magnetic moments pointing away from the honeycomb plane byα=31(2)∘. We argue that the identical ordered moment directions in these samples suggest that the intralayer magnetic interactions remain mostly unchanged regardless ofTN.
Authors
- C. S. Nelson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0196-0340)
- Ezekiel Horsley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7159-3910)
- Subin Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1191-9640)
- Young‐June Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1172-8895)
- Jacob Ruff
Institutions
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Physics Condensed Matter
- Published
- 2025-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/adcf6c
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.26
Funders
- Division of Materials Research
- Brookhaven National Laboratory