Magnetic and electrical anisotropy with correlation and orbital effects in dimerized honeycomb ruthenate Li2RuO3

Abstract

Li2RuO3 undergoes a structural transition at a relatively high temperature of 550 K with a distinct dimerization of Ru-Ru bonds on the otherwise isotropic honeycomb lattice. It exhibits a unique herringbone dimerization pattern with an unusually large value of bond shrinkage, about similar to 0.5 angstrom. However, many questions still remain about its origin and its effect on the physical properties. In this work, using high-quality single crystals we investigated the anisotropy of resistivity (rho) and magnetic susceptibility (chi) to find a very clear anisotropy: rho(c*) > rho(b) > rho(a) and chi(b) > chi(a) > chi(c*). We also carried out density functional calculations for possible theoretical interpretations, and concluded that this anisotropic behavior is due to the correlation effects combined with the unique orbital structure and the dimerization of Ru 4d bands. ©2019 American Physical Society