Studies on magnetism in 2D van der Waals antiferromagnetic insulators using terahertz spectroscopy
Name
1133650043-MIT.pdf
Size
11.74 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e85e37a07b443c1722f6463b9a62eaaa
Author(s)
Ozel, Ilkem Ozge.
Advisor(s)
Nuh Gedik.
Alternative Title
Studies on magnetism in two-dimensional van der Waals antiferromagnetic insulators using THz spectroscopy
Date Issued
2019
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Revealing the spin excitations of complex quantum magnets is key to developing a minimal model that explains the underlying magnetic correlations in the ground state. In this thesis, we study the low-energy magnons in a-RuCl3 by combining timedomain terahertz spectroscopy under an external magnetic field and model Hamiltonian calculations. We observe two absorption peaks at 2.0 and 2.4 meV, which we attribute to zone-center spin waves. Using linear spin-wave theory with only nearest-neighbor terms of the exchange couplings, we calculate the antiferromagnetic resonance frequencies and reveal their dependence on an external field applied parallel to the nearest-neigbor Ru-Ru bonds. We find that the magnon behavior in an applied magnetic field can be understood only by including an off-diagonal exchange term to the minimal Heisenberg-Kitaev model. Such an anisotropic exchange interaction that manifests itself as a result of strong spin-orbit coupling can naturally account for the observed mixing of the modes at higher field strengths.
Description
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2019
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-99).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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