Samanta S, Hong D, Kim HS. Electronic Structures of Kitaev Magnet Candidates RuCl
3 and RuI
3.
NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023;
14:9. [PMID:
38202464 PMCID:
PMC10780606 DOI:
10.3390/nano14010009]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Layered honeycomb magnets with strong atomic spin-orbit coupling at transition metal sites have been intensively studied for the search of Kitaev magnetism and the resulting non-Abelian braiding statistics. α-RuCl3 has been the most promising candidate, and there have been several reports on the realization of sibling compounds α-RuBr3 and α-RuI3 with the same crystal structure. Here, we investigate correlated electronic structures of α-RuCl3 and α-RuI3 by employing first-principles dynamical mean-field theory. Our result provides a valuable insight into the discrepancy between experimental and theoretical reports on transport properties of α-RuI3, and suggests a potential realization of correlated flat bands with strong spin-orbit coupling and a quantum spin-Hall insulating phase in α-RuI3.
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