Unusual Thermal Hall Effect in a Kitaev Spin Liquid Candidate α-RuCl_{3}.

ABSTRACT

The Kitaev quantum spin liquid displays the fractionalization of quantum spins into Majorana fermions. The emergent Majorana edge current is predicted to manifest itself in the form of a finite thermal Hall effect, a feature commonly discussed in topological superconductors. Here we report on thermal Hall conductivity κ_{xy} measurements in α-RuCl_{3}, a candidate Kitaev magnet with the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. In a spin-liquid (Kitaev paramagnetic) state below the temperature characterized by the Kitaev interaction J_{K}/k_{B}∼80 K, positive κ_{xy} develops gradually upon cooling, demonstrating the presence of highly unusual itinerant excitations. Although the zero-temperature property is masked by the magnetic ordering at T_{N}=7 K, the sign, magnitude, and T dependence of κ_{xy}/T at intermediate temperatures follows the predicted trend of the itinerant Majorana excitations.