Riku Ishioka | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Piezomagnetic transport in van der Waals noncoplanar Antiferromagnets

The piezomagnetic effect-strain-induced linear modulation of magnetization, arises in magnets with broken time-reversal symmetry (BTRS), offering a pathway to bidirectional strain-based control of magnetism, which is an essential straintronic and spintronic functionality in solids. Metallic antiferromagnets with BTRS provide an ideal platform to study this effect through transport measurements, yet experimental demonstrations are limited. Van der Waals (vdW) nanomagnets, with their mechanical flexibility, are particularly promising for realizing large piezomagnetic responses and effective transport control. Here we demonstrate piezomagnetic control of electronic transport in nano-devices of the vdW antiferromagnets CoNb$_3$S$_6$ and CoTa$_3$S$_6$, archetypal vdW metals with BTRS that exhibit a spontaneous Hall effect. Applying uniaxial strain linearly modulates both the antiferromagnetic transition temperature and coercive field, consistent with strain-driven tuning of exchange coupling, key signatures of the piezomagnetic effect. Moreover, spontaneous Hall effect is controllable via strain, evidencing piezomagnetic tuning of Berry curvature and its associated geometric transport. These findings establish piezomagnetism as a powerful route to manipulate antiferromagnetic transport, opening avenues for straintronic and spintronic applications in vdW magnetic systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Bulk excitations in ultraclean $α$-RuCl$_3$: Quantitative evidence for Majorana dispersions in a Kitaev quantum spin liquid

The spin-orbit coupled Mott insulator $α$-RuCl$_3$ has emerged as a prime candidate for realizing the Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KQSL), characterized by Majorana quasiparticles, whose edge states exhibit a distinctive half-integer quantized thermal Hall conductivity. However, its van der Waals nature makes its thermal Hall response highly sensitive to structural disorder, leading to sample-dependent variations. Here, we investigate low-energy bulk excitations in the field-induced quantum disordered (FIQD) state of newly available ultraclean single crystals of $α$-RuCl$_3$. High-resolution specific heat measurements under in-plane magnetic field rotation reveal an anisotropic excitation gap, whose field dependence is consistent with the Majorana gap in the KQSL state. Remarkably, when the field aligns with Ru-Ru bond directions, we observe gapless excitations with Dirac-like dispersions that quantitatively match theoretical predictions of Majorana bands based on the reported Kitaev interactions. Our findings in these ultraclean crystals provide strong evidence that the FIQD state of $α$-RuCl$_3$ is a robust KQSL, resilient against small disorder perturbations.

cond-mat.str-el↗