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The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Kitaev interactions through extended superexchange pathways in the Ru3+ honeycomb magnet RuP3SiO11
Aly H Abdeldaim1,2,3, Hlynur Gretarsson4, Sarah J Day5
1School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. aly.abdeldaim@diamond.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Magnetic materials are composed of the simple building blocks of magnetic moments on a crystal lattice that interact via magnetic exchange. Yet from this simplicity emerges a remarkable diversity of magnetic states. Some reveal the deep quantum mechanical origins of magnetism, for example, quantum spin liquid (QSL) states in which magnetic moments remain disordered at low temperatures despite being strongly correlated through quantum entanglement. A promising theoretical model of a QSL is the Kitaev model, composed of unusual bond-dependent exchange interactions, but experimentally, this model is challenging to realise. Here we show that the material requirements for the Kitaev QSL survive an extended pseudo-edge-sharing superexchange pathway of Ru3+ octahedra within the honeycomb layers of the inorganic framework solid, RuP3SiO11. We confirm the requisite state of Ru3+ in RuP3SiO11 and resolve the hierarchy of exchange interactions that provide experimental access to an unexplored region of the Kitaev model.
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