Ultrafast spin dynamics in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl3

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Haochen, Kim, Subin, Kim, Young-June, Kee, Hae-Young, Yang, Luyi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2019
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author Zhang, Haochen
Kim, Subin
Kim, Young-June
Kee, Hae-Young
Yang, Luyi
author_facet Zhang, Haochen
Kim, Subin
Kim, Young-June
Kee, Hae-Young
Yang, Luyi
contents α-RuCl3 is a Kitaev material suggested to be a proximate quantum spin liquid in a certain temperature and magnetic field range. Nonequilibrium measurements of transient dynamics have been proposed to detect fractionalized particles that emerge in the spin liquid and to possibly drive the system into novel photoinduced magnetic states that cannot be accessed by conventional equilibrium probes. Here we study ultrafast spin dynamics of photoinduced excitations in α-RuCl3 using pump-probe transient grating spectroscopy. In the real part of the complex transient reflectance change ΔR/R, we observe the long-range antiferromagnetic correlation near the Néel temperature. Most intriguingly, above the Néel temperature in the Kitaev paramagnetic phase, we reveal a photoexcitation component sensitive to the in-plane magnetic field in the imaginary part of ΔR/R. This component exhibits two distinct lifetimes of about tens of picoseconds. This photoexcitation component may be connected to novel photoexcited states in the Kitaev quantum spin liquid, and its lifetimes likely reflect the dynamics of unconventional spin excitations in the Kitaev model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1908_04807
institution arXiv
publishDate 2019
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ultrafast spin dynamics in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl3
Zhang, Haochen
Kim, Subin
Kim, Young-June
Kee, Hae-Young
Yang, Luyi
Strongly Correlated Electrons
α-RuCl3 is a Kitaev material suggested to be a proximate quantum spin liquid in a certain temperature and magnetic field range. Nonequilibrium measurements of transient dynamics have been proposed to detect fractionalized particles that emerge in the spin liquid and to possibly drive the system into novel photoinduced magnetic states that cannot be accessed by conventional equilibrium probes. Here we study ultrafast spin dynamics of photoinduced excitations in α-RuCl3 using pump-probe transient grating spectroscopy. In the real part of the complex transient reflectance change ΔR/R, we observe the long-range antiferromagnetic correlation near the Néel temperature. Most intriguingly, above the Néel temperature in the Kitaev paramagnetic phase, we reveal a photoexcitation component sensitive to the in-plane magnetic field in the imaginary part of ΔR/R. This component exhibits two distinct lifetimes of about tens of picoseconds. This photoexcitation component may be connected to novel photoexcited states in the Kitaev quantum spin liquid, and its lifetimes likely reflect the dynamics of unconventional spin excitations in the Kitaev model.
title Ultrafast spin dynamics in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl3
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.04807