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Main Authors: Gupta, Shuvankar, Emmanuel, Olajumoke Oluwatobiloba, Zhang, Pengpeng, Ke, Xianglin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05819
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_version_ 1866917192017117184
author Gupta, Shuvankar
Emmanuel, Olajumoke Oluwatobiloba
Zhang, Pengpeng
Ke, Xianglin
author_facet Gupta, Shuvankar
Emmanuel, Olajumoke Oluwatobiloba
Zhang, Pengpeng
Ke, Xianglin
contents Layered honeycomb magnets have garnered significant attention recently for their exotic quantum phenomena due to the potential anisotropic, bond-dependent Kitaev interactions. However, distinguishing the roles of Kitaev interactions and the symmetry-allowed Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) remains challenging, since both mechanisms may lead to similar magnetic excitations and thermal transport properties. To tackle this challenge, using a ferromagnetic honeycomb insulator VI3 as a model system, we systematically study the angular-dependent thermal Hall conductivity Kxy(θ, Φ) with both out-of-plane (θ) and in-plane (Φ) magnetic field rotations. Our results reveal a persistent thermal Hall response for both out-of-plane and in-plane rotating magnetic fields, devoid of the sign-reversal patterns characteristic of Kitaev physics. Instead, quantitative analysis shows that the angular dependent Kxy(θ, Φ) is governed by the projection between the magnetic moment and a tilted DM vector containing both out-of-plane and in-plane components. These results not only establish the DMI-driven topological magnetic excitations as the origin of the thermal Hall response in VI3 but also highlight the angular-dependent thermal Hall effect measurements as an effective approach for distinguishing competing interactions in quantum magnets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_05819
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Angular-Dependent Thermal Hall Effect in a Honeycomb Magnet: Disentangling Kitaev and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions
Gupta, Shuvankar
Emmanuel, Olajumoke Oluwatobiloba
Zhang, Pengpeng
Ke, Xianglin
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Layered honeycomb magnets have garnered significant attention recently for their exotic quantum phenomena due to the potential anisotropic, bond-dependent Kitaev interactions. However, distinguishing the roles of Kitaev interactions and the symmetry-allowed Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) remains challenging, since both mechanisms may lead to similar magnetic excitations and thermal transport properties. To tackle this challenge, using a ferromagnetic honeycomb insulator VI3 as a model system, we systematically study the angular-dependent thermal Hall conductivity Kxy(θ, Φ) with both out-of-plane (θ) and in-plane (Φ) magnetic field rotations. Our results reveal a persistent thermal Hall response for both out-of-plane and in-plane rotating magnetic fields, devoid of the sign-reversal patterns characteristic of Kitaev physics. Instead, quantitative analysis shows that the angular dependent Kxy(θ, Φ) is governed by the projection between the magnetic moment and a tilted DM vector containing both out-of-plane and in-plane components. These results not only establish the DMI-driven topological magnetic excitations as the origin of the thermal Hall response in VI3 but also highlight the angular-dependent thermal Hall effect measurements as an effective approach for distinguishing competing interactions in quantum magnets.
title Angular-Dependent Thermal Hall Effect in a Honeycomb Magnet: Disentangling Kitaev and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05819