No Arabic abstract
Recent developments in twisted and lattice-mismatched bilayers have revealed a rich phase space of van der Waals systems and generated excitement. Among these systems are heterobilayers which can offer new opportunities to control van der Waals systems with strong in plane correlations such as spin-orbit-assisted Mott insulator $alpha$-RuCl$_3$. Nevertheless, a theoretical $textit{ab initio}$ framework for mismatched heterobilayers without even approximate periodicity is sorely lacking. We propose a general strategy for calculating electronic properties of such systems, mismatched interface theory (MINT), and apply it to the graphene/$alpha$-RuCl$_{3}$ (GR/$alpha$-RuCl$_{3}$) heterostructure. Using MINT, we predict uniform doping of 4.77$%$ from graphene to $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ and magnetic interactions in $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ to shift the system toward the Kitaev point. Hence we demonstrate that MINT can guide targeted materialization of desired model systems and discuss recent experiments on GR/$alpha$-RuCl$_{3}$ heterostructures.
Raman scattering has been employed to investigate lattice and magnetic excitations of the honeycomb Kitaev material $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ and its Heisenberg counterpart CrCl$_3$. Our phonon Raman spectra give evidence for a first-order structural transition from a monoclinic to a rhombohedral structure for both compounds. Significantly, only $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ features a large thermal hysteresis, consistent with the formation of a wide phase of coexistence. In the related temperature interval of $70-170$ K, we observe a hysteretic behavior of magnetic excitations as well. The stronger magnetic response in the rhombohedral compared to the monoclinic phase evidences a coupling between the crystallographic structure and low-energy magnetic response. Our results demonstrate that the Kitaev magnetism concomitant with fractionalized excitations is susceptible to small variations of bonding geometry.
Work function-mediated charge transfer in graphene/$alpha$-RuCl$_3$ heterostructures has been proposed as a strategy for generating highly-doped 2D interfaces. In this geometry, graphene should become sufficiently doped to host surface and edge plasmon-polaritons (SPPs and EPPs, respectively). Characterization of the SPP and EPP behavior as a function of frequency and temperature can be used to simultaneously probe the magnitude of interlayer charge transfer while extracting the optical response of the interfacial doped $alpha$-RuCl$_3$. We accomplish this using scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) in conjunction with first-principles DFT calculations. This reveals massive interlayer charge transfer (2.7 $times$ 10$^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$) and enhanced optical conductivity in $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ as a result of significant electron doping. Our results provide a general strategy for generating highly-doped plasmonic interfaces in the 2D limit in a scanning probe-accessible geometry without need of an electrostatic gate.
We investigate, using a first-principles density-functional methodology, the nature of magnetism in monolayer $1T$-phase of tantalum disulfide ($1T$-TaS$_2$ ). Magnetism in the insulating phase of TaS$_2$ is a longstanding puzzle and has led to a variety of theoretical proposals including notably the realization of a two-dimensional quantum-spin-liquid phase. By means of non-collinear spin calculations, we derive $textit{ab initio}$ spin Hamiltonians including two-spin bilinear Heisenberg exchange, as well as biquadratic and four-spin ring-exchange couplings. We find that both quadratic and quartic interactions are consistently ferromagnetic, for all the functionals considered. Relativistic calculations predict substantial magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Altogether, our results suggest that this material may realize an easy-plane XXZ quantum ferromagnet with large anisotropy.
Thermodynamics of the Kitaev honeycomb magnet $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ is studied for different directions of in-plane magnetic field using measurements of the magnetic Gruneisen parameter $Gamma_B$ and specific heat $C$. We identify two critical fields $B_c^{rm AF1}$ and $B_c^{rm AF2}$ corresponding, respectively, to a transition between two magnetically ordered states and the loss of magnetic order toward a quantum paramagnetic state. The $B_c^{AF2}$ phase boundary reveals a narrow region of magnetic fields where inverse melting of the ordered phase may occur. No additional transitions are detected above $B_c^{rm AF2}$ for any direction of the in-plane field, although a shoulder anomaly in $Gamma_B$ is observed systematically at $8-10$ T. Large field-induced entropy effects imply additional low-energy excitations at low fields and/or strongly field-dependent phonon entropies. Our results establish universal features of $alpha$-RuCl$_3$ in high magnetic fields and challenge the presence of a field-induced Kitaev spin liquid in this material.
We model changes of magnetic ordering in Mn-antiperovskite nitrides driven by biaxial lattice strain at zero and at finite temperature. We employ a non-collinear spin-polarised density functional theory to compare the response of the geometrically frustrated exchange interactions to a tetragonal symmetry breaking (the so called piezomagnetic effect) across a range of Mn$_3$AN (A = Rh, Pd, Ag, Co, Ni, Zn, Ga, In, Sn) at zero temperature. Building on the robustness of the effect we focus on Mn$_3$GaN and extend our study to finite temperature using the disordered local moment (DLM) first-principles electronic structure theory to model the interplay between the ordering of Mn magnetic moments and itinerant electron states. We discover a rich temperature-strain magnetic phase diagram with two previously unreported phases stabilised by strains larger than 0.75% and with transition temperatures strongly dependent on strain. We propose an elastocaloric cooling cycle crossing two of the available phase transitions to achieve simultaneously a large isothermal entropy change (due to the first order transition) and a large adiabatic temperature change (due to the second order transition).