Two-step growth of high-quality single crystals of the Kitaev magnet $α$-RuCl$_{3}$
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arXiv
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2024
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| author | Namba, R. Imamura, K. Ishioka, R. Ishihara, K. Miyamoto, T. Okamoto, H. Shimizu, Y. Saito, Y. Agarmani, Y. Lang, M. Murayama, H. Xing, Y. Suetsugu, S. Kasahara, Y. Matsuda, Y. Hashimoto, K. Shibauchi, T. |
| author_facet | Namba, R. Imamura, K. Ishioka, R. Ishihara, K. Miyamoto, T. Okamoto, H. Shimizu, Y. Saito, Y. Agarmani, Y. Lang, M. Murayama, H. Xing, Y. Suetsugu, S. Kasahara, Y. Matsuda, Y. Hashimoto, K. Shibauchi, T. |
| contents | The layered honeycomb magnet $α$-RuCl$_3$ is the most promising candidate for a Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KQSL) that can host charge-neutral Majorana fermions. Recent studies have shown significant sample dependence of thermal transport properties, which are a key probe of Majorana quasiparticles in the KQSL state, highlighting the importance of preparing high-quality single crystals of $α$-RuCl$_3$. Here, we present a relatively simple and reliable method to grow high-quality single crystals of $α$-RuCl$_3$. We use a two-step crystal growth method consisting of a purification process by chemical vapor transport (CVT) and a main crystal growth process by sublimation. The obtained crystals exhibit a distinct first-order structural phase transition from the monoclinic ($C2/m$) to the rhombohedral ($R\bar{3}$) structure at $\sim150$ K, which is confirmed by the nuclear quadrupole resonance spectra with much sharper widths than previously reported. The Raman spectra show the absence of defect-induced modes, supporting the good crystallinity of our samples. The jumps in the thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat at the antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at 7.6-7.7 K are larger and sharper than those of previous samples grown by the CVT and Bridgman methods and do not show any additional AFM transitions at 10-14 K due to stacking faults. The longitudinal thermal conductivity in the AFM phase is significantly larger than previously reported, indicating a very long mean free path of heat carriers. All the results indicate that our single crystals are of superior quality with good crystallinity and few stacking faults, which provides a suitable platform for studying the Kitaev physics. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_03986 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Two-step growth of high-quality single crystals of the Kitaev magnet $α$-RuCl$_{3}$ Namba, R. Imamura, K. Ishioka, R. Ishihara, K. Miyamoto, T. Okamoto, H. Shimizu, Y. Saito, Y. Agarmani, Y. Lang, M. Murayama, H. Xing, Y. Suetsugu, S. Kasahara, Y. Matsuda, Y. Hashimoto, K. Shibauchi, T. Strongly Correlated Electrons The layered honeycomb magnet $α$-RuCl$_3$ is the most promising candidate for a Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KQSL) that can host charge-neutral Majorana fermions. Recent studies have shown significant sample dependence of thermal transport properties, which are a key probe of Majorana quasiparticles in the KQSL state, highlighting the importance of preparing high-quality single crystals of $α$-RuCl$_3$. Here, we present a relatively simple and reliable method to grow high-quality single crystals of $α$-RuCl$_3$. We use a two-step crystal growth method consisting of a purification process by chemical vapor transport (CVT) and a main crystal growth process by sublimation. The obtained crystals exhibit a distinct first-order structural phase transition from the monoclinic ($C2/m$) to the rhombohedral ($R\bar{3}$) structure at $\sim150$ K, which is confirmed by the nuclear quadrupole resonance spectra with much sharper widths than previously reported. The Raman spectra show the absence of defect-induced modes, supporting the good crystallinity of our samples. The jumps in the thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat at the antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at 7.6-7.7 K are larger and sharper than those of previous samples grown by the CVT and Bridgman methods and do not show any additional AFM transitions at 10-14 K due to stacking faults. The longitudinal thermal conductivity in the AFM phase is significantly larger than previously reported, indicating a very long mean free path of heat carriers. All the results indicate that our single crystals are of superior quality with good crystallinity and few stacking faults, which provides a suitable platform for studying the Kitaev physics. |
| title | Two-step growth of high-quality single crystals of the Kitaev magnet $α$-RuCl$_{3}$ |
| topic | Strongly Correlated Electrons |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.03986 |