Research: Na2Co2TeO6 stabilizes exotic magnetic order

Na₂Co₂TeO₆ is a magnetic Mott insulator that has received significant interest lately as a candidate of a novel class of cobalt-based material realizations of the Kitaev honeycomb spin liquid. However, at low temperatures, it exhibits long-range magnetic order, sparking intense debate regarding the nature of this ordered state.

Researchers from SFB 1143, in collaboration with Peking University, have now successfully resolved this ongoing debate. Employing an innovative symmetry-based approach, they have unveiled an exotic noncoplanar triple-q magnetic ground state, which emerges due to the material's proximity to a hidden-SU(2)-symmetric point in parameter space.

These findings carry immediate implications for the interpretation of various ongoing experiments involving Na₂Co₂TeO₆ and open up a new avenue for the identification of unconventional magnetic orders in other spin-orbit-coupled materials, including Na₃Co₂SbO₆, BaCo₂(AsO₄)₂, and potentially even α-RuCl₃.

W. G. F. Krüger, W. Chen, X. Jin, Y. Li, and L. Janssen,
Triple-q Order in Na₂Co₂TeO₆ from Proximity to Hidden-SU(2)-Symmetric Point,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 146702 (2023), (arXiv)