Electronic transport in thin crystals of transition metal oxides with Heisenberg-Kitaev physics*

Josue Rodriguez, Amirari Diego, Gilbert Lopez, Nicholas P. Breznay, Robert Kealhofer, David Rosser, Francisco Ramirez, Naomy Marrufo, Samantha Crouch, James G. Analytis and Claudia Ojeda-Aristizabal

Sodium Iridate (Na₂IrO₃) and Ruthenium Chloride (RuCl₃) present exciting phenomena thanks to the honeycomb arrangement of their ions and the interplay of electronic correlations and spin-orbit coupling. They constitute a close experimental realization of the the Kitaev-Heisenberg model. Magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity measurements in bulk crystals have shown signature of magnetic ordered states [1]. We have integrated exfoliated thin crystals of Na₂IrO₃ and RuCl₃ into an electronic device and performed electronic transport measurements, finding through temperature dependent resistance measurements anomalies that correspond to the magnetic ordered transition for Na₂IrO₃.

[1] Y. Singh and P. Gegenwart, Phys Rev B 82, 6 (2010).