Direct evidence for anisotropic magnetic interaction in $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ from polarized inelastic neutron scattering

Abstract

Polarized neutron scattering experiments reveal the anisotropy of magnetic correlations in the candidate Kitaev material $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$. The anisotropy of the inelastic response at the magnetic Bragg positions is just opposite to the expectation for a simple Heisenberg model. Near the antiferromagnetic $q$ vector, there are no low-energy transversal magnon modes directly documenting the fully anisotropic and bond-directional character of the magnetic interaction in $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$. However, other findings disagree with a simple or strongly dominant Kitaev component.