α-RuCl3 on graphene: subtle interplay of spin, charge and strain effects

In the pursuit of developing routes to enhance magnetic Kitaev interactions in α-RuCl3, as well as probing doping effects, I will discuss in this talk possible new phases emerging from heterostructures of α-RuCl3 on graphene, based on ab initio combined with many-body simulations [1,2] and comparison to experimental observations such as recent electrical conductance and anomalous quantum oscillations measurements.
Through microscopic modelling I will show how the subtle interplay of spin, charge and strain effects gives rise to a paramount of possible unexplored phases.
In this context I will then focus on the role of the magnetoelastic coupling in the Kitaev candidate materials [3].

This work has been done in collaboration with S. Biswas, D. Kaib, V. Leeb, Y. Li, K. Riedl, S.M. Winter and J. Knolle.

[1] Biswas et al. PRL 123, 237201 (2019).
[2] Leeb et al. arXiv:2010.01649
[3] Kaib et al. arXiv:2008.08616