Abstract
Motivated by the possibility of enhanced magnetic fluctuations in exfoliated α-RuCl3 flakes, we study magneto-Raman spectra of exfoliated multilayer α-RuCl3 in out-of-plane magnetic fields of -6 to 6 T at temperatures of 670 mK to 4 K. While the literature currently suggests that bulk α-RuCl3 is in an antiferromagnetic zigzag phase with R3¯ symmetry at low temperatures, we do not observe R3¯ symmetry in exfoliated α-RuCl3 at low temperatures. While we saw no magnetic field-driven transitions, the Raman modes exhibit unexpected stochastic shifts in response to the applied magnetic field that are above the uncertainties inferred from Bayesian analysis. These stochastic shifts are consistent with the emergence of magnetostrictive interactions in exfoliated α-RuCl3.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 25687-25694 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Physical Chemistry C |
| Volume | 125 |
| Issue number | 46 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 25 2021 |
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge insightful discussion with Thuc Mai, Rolando Valdés Aguilar, and Arnab Banerjee. This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. Postdoctoral (C.E.M.) research support was provided by the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, administered by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Portions of this material (J.Y.) are based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Quantum Science Center. Exfoliation (K.X.), variable temperature photoluminescence (B.L.), and modeling (L.L.) were performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility. Student (M.A.F., B.J.L., Y.S.P.) research support was provided by the Department of Defense through the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) and by the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships | |
| Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research | |
| National Quantum Information Science Research Centers | |
| Quantum Science Center | |
| SULI | |
| U.S. Department of Defense | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Basic Energy Sciences | |
| Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education | |
| Office of the Director of National Intelligence | |
| Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering | |
| National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate |