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Quantum magnetism

Thermal Hall conductivity of α-RuCl3

Nature Materials volume 22, pages 6–7 (2023)Cite this article

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Thermal Hall conductivity originating from topological magnons is observed in the Kitaev candidate α-RuCl3 in broad intervals of temperature and in-plane magnetic field, raising questions on the role of the Majorana mode in heat conduction.

The black-coloured ruthenium trichloride (α-RuCl3) has a layered honeycomb structure composed of Ru3+ with a magnetic moment of an effective spin-1/2. Although RuCl3 compounds were discovered back in the early twentieth century, physicists only began to perceive their connection to the Kitaev spin liquid (KSL) — a special kind of quantum spin liquid (QSL) — in 20141. The elementary excitations of a KSL, Majorana fermions and vortices, offer a platform for quantum memory protected from decoherence, as they cannot be annihilated locally but only through fusion with their antiparticle2. The smoking-gun signature of the KSL is 1/2-integer quantized thermal Hall conductivity under a magnetic field, originating from unpaired Majorana moving around the edge of the sample. Remarkably, observation of 1/2-integer quantized thermal Hall conductivity in narrow ranges of temperature and magnetic field has been reported3. However, such experiments were repeated by a few groups using an in-plane magnetic field, and conflicting conclusions were drawn. Despite similar-looking data, one group concluded robust 1/2-integer quantization4, while another reported no trace of 1/2-integer quantization5, which has generated considerable debate in the community of quantum magnetism.

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Fig. 1: Thermal measurements and phase diagram of RuCl3.

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  1. Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Hae-Young Kee

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Correspondence to Hae-Young Kee.

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Kee, HY. Thermal Hall conductivity of α-RuCl3. Nat. Mater. 22, 6–7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01444-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01444-6

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