Spin-Wave Excitations Evidencing the Kitaev Interaction in Single Crystalline α − RuCl 3

Kitaev interactions underlying a quantum spin liquid have long been sought, but experimental data from which their strengths can be determined directly, are still lacking. Here, by carrying out inelastic neutron scattering measurements on high-quality single crystals of $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$, we observe spin-wave spectra with a gap of $\ensuremath{\sim}2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{meV}$ around the $M$ point of the two-dimensional Brillouin zone. We derive an effective-spin model in the strong-coupling limit based on energy bands obtained from first-principles calculations, and find that the anisotropic Kitaev interaction $K$ term and the isotropic antiferromagnetic off-diagonal exchange interaction $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ term are significantly larger than the Heisenberg exchange coupling $J$ term. Our experimental data can be well fit using an effective-spin model with $K=\ensuremath{-}6.8\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{meV}$ and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}=9.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{meV}$. These results demonstrate explicitly that Kitaev physics is realized in real materials.