Randomly Hopping Majorana Fermions in the Diluted Kitaev System α - Ru0.8Ir0.2Cl3

  • Seung Hwan Do
  • , C. H. Lee
  • , T. Kihara
  • , Y. S. Choi
  • , Sungwon Yoon
  • , Kangwon Kim
  • , Hyeonsik Cheong
  • , Wei Tin Chen
  • , Fangcheng Chou
  • , H. Nojiri
  • , Kwang Yong Choi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

dc and ac magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat, and Raman scattering measurements are combined to probe low-lying spin excitations in α-Ru1-xIrxCl3 (x≈0.2), which realizes a disordered spin liquid. At intermediate energies (â.,ω>3 meV), Raman spectroscopy evidences linearly ω-dependent Majorana-like excitations, obeying Fermi statistics. This points to robustness of a Kitaev paramagnetic state under spin vacancies. At low energies below 3 meV, we observe power-law dependences and quantum-critical-like scalings of the thermodynamic quantities, implying the presence of a weakly divergent low-energy density of states. This scaling phenomenology is interpreted in terms of the random hoppings of Majorana fermions. Our results demonstrate an emergent hierarchy of spin excitations in a diluted Kitaev honeycomb system subject to spin vacancies and bond randomness.

Original languageEnglish
Article number047204
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume124
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 31 Jan 2020
Externally publishedYes

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