Atomic-scale observation of structural and electronic orders in the layered compound α-RuCl3

M Ziatdinov; A Banerjee; A Maksov; T Berlijn; W Zhou; H B Cao; J-Q Yan; C A Bridges; D G Mandrus; S E Nagler; A P Baddorf; S V Kalinin

doi:10.1038/ncomms13774

Atomic-scale observation of structural and electronic orders in the layered compound α-RuCl₃

Nat Commun. 2016 Dec 12:7:13774. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13774.

Authors

M Ziatdinov^{1

2}, A Banerjee³, A Maksov^{1

4}, T Berlijn^{1

5}, W Zhou⁶, H B Cao³, J-Q Yan^{6

7}, C A Bridges⁸, D G Mandrus^{6

7}, S E Nagler^{3

4}, A P Baddorf^{1

2}, S V Kalinin^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
² Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
³ Quantum Condensed Matter Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
⁴ Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
⁵ Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
⁶ Material Science &Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
⁷ Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
⁸ Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.

Abstract

A pseudospin-1/2 Mott phase on a honeycomb lattice is proposed to host the celebrated two-dimensional Kitaev model which has an elusive quantum spin liquid ground state, and fascinating physics relevant to the development of future templates towards topological quantum bits. Here we report a comprehensive, atomically resolved real-space study by scanning transmission electron and scanning tunnelling microscopies on a novel layered material displaying Kitaev physics, α-RuCl₃. Our local crystallography analysis reveals considerable variations in the geometry of the ligand sublattice in thin films of α-RuCl₃ that opens a way to realization of a spatially inhomogeneous magnetic ground state at the nanometre length scale. Using scanning tunnelling techniques, we observe the electronic energy gap of ≈0.25 eV and intra-unit cell symmetry breaking of charge distribution in individual α-RuCl₃ surface layer. The corresponding charge-ordered pattern has a fine structure associated with two different types of charge disproportionation at Cl-terminated surface.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.