Pushing towards the quantum spin liquid regime

Pressure-Tuning of α-RuCl₃ Towards a Quantum Spin Liquid

We are happy and proud to announce the publication of our latest paper in Nature Communications. We discovered that hydrostatic pressure or biaxial stress are able to drive α-RuCl₃  into a high-symmetry phase, which is predicted to be a quantum spin liquid (QSL).

QSLs are fascinating and elusive states of matter, difficult to realize and detect experimentally. Among the most promising candidate materials is α-RuCl₃, but its distorted lattice hinders the appearance of the QSL state. Using a new innovative approach, we showed that these distortions can be removed, paving the way for the quantum spin liquid phase. Indeed, a collaboration with the groups of Liviu Hozoi (IFW Dresden) and Nikolay Bogdanov (MPI Stuttgart) revealed that this structure should yield a QSL with the highest K/J ratio ever reported.

Importantly our results imply that the high-symmetry phase can also be stabilized in a very simple way by biaxial stress. This opens the door for further experimental exploration of this phase using a wide range of experimental probes.

Original publication:
Pressure-tuning of α-RuCl₃ towards a quantum spin liquid,
Q. Stahl, T. Ritschel, G. Garbarino, F. Cova, A. Isaeva, T. Doert & J. Geck 
Nature Commun. 15, 8142 (2024)