Phonon thermal transport shaped by strong spin-phonon scattering in a Kitaev material Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2023
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| _version_ | 1866913236750696448 |
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| author | Hong, Xiaochen Gillig, Matthias Yao, Weiliang Janssen, Lukas Kocsis, Vilmos Gass, Sebastian Li, Yuan Wolter, Anja U. B. Büchner, Bernd Hess, Christian |
| author_facet | Hong, Xiaochen Gillig, Matthias Yao, Weiliang Janssen, Lukas Kocsis, Vilmos Gass, Sebastian Li, Yuan Wolter, Anja U. B. Büchner, Bernd Hess, Christian |
| contents | The recent report of a half-quantized thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev material $α$-RuCl$_3$ has sparked a strong debate on whether it is generated by Majorana fermion edge currents or whether other more conventional mechanisms involving magnons or phonons are at its origin. A more direct evidence for Majorana fermions which could be expected to arise from a contribution to the longitudinal heat conductivity $κ_{xx}$ at $T\rightarrow0$ is elusive due to a very complex magnetic field dependence of $κ_{xx}$. Here, we report very low temperature (below 1~K) thermal conductivity ($κ$) of another candidate Kitaev material, Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$. The application of a magnetic field along different principal axes of the crystal reveals a strong directional-dependent magnetic-field ($\bf B$) impact on $κ$. We show that no evidence for mobile quasiparticles except phonons can be concluded at any field from 0~T to the field polarized state. In particular, severely scattered phonon transport is observed across the $B-T$ phase diagram, which is attributed to prominent magnetic fluctuations. Cascades of phase transitions are uncovered for all $\bf B$ directions by probing the strength of magnetic fluctuations via a precise record of $κ$($B$). Our results thus rule out recent proposals for itinerant magnetic excitations in Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$, and emphasise the importance of discriminating true spin liquid transport properties from scattered phonons in candidate materials. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_16963 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Phonon thermal transport shaped by strong spin-phonon scattering in a Kitaev material Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$ Hong, Xiaochen Gillig, Matthias Yao, Weiliang Janssen, Lukas Kocsis, Vilmos Gass, Sebastian Li, Yuan Wolter, Anja U. B. Büchner, Bernd Hess, Christian Strongly Correlated Electrons Materials Science The recent report of a half-quantized thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev material $α$-RuCl$_3$ has sparked a strong debate on whether it is generated by Majorana fermion edge currents or whether other more conventional mechanisms involving magnons or phonons are at its origin. A more direct evidence for Majorana fermions which could be expected to arise from a contribution to the longitudinal heat conductivity $κ_{xx}$ at $T\rightarrow0$ is elusive due to a very complex magnetic field dependence of $κ_{xx}$. Here, we report very low temperature (below 1~K) thermal conductivity ($κ$) of another candidate Kitaev material, Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$. The application of a magnetic field along different principal axes of the crystal reveals a strong directional-dependent magnetic-field ($\bf B$) impact on $κ$. We show that no evidence for mobile quasiparticles except phonons can be concluded at any field from 0~T to the field polarized state. In particular, severely scattered phonon transport is observed across the $B-T$ phase diagram, which is attributed to prominent magnetic fluctuations. Cascades of phase transitions are uncovered for all $\bf B$ directions by probing the strength of magnetic fluctuations via a precise record of $κ$($B$). Our results thus rule out recent proposals for itinerant magnetic excitations in Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$, and emphasise the importance of discriminating true spin liquid transport properties from scattered phonons in candidate materials. |
| title | Phonon thermal transport shaped by strong spin-phonon scattering in a Kitaev material Na$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$ |
| topic | Strongly Correlated Electrons Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.16963 |