Magnetic Spectrum of a New Spin Liquid with Heisenberg-Kitaev Interactions

We propose to continue our investigation of the magnetic excitation spectrum of the potential Kitaev spin liquid compound Li2RhO3. Moderate spin orbit coupling in the Rh4+ ion is expected to results in a ground state doublet which in combination with the honeycomb structure of RhO6 edge-sharing octahedral, gives rise to highly directional Kitaev interactions. The magnetic excitation spectrum of a powder sample of Li2RhO3 recently collected at base temperature at LET revealed the magnetic signal at low wave vector extending up 10meV. In this experiment we wish to explore the magnetic excitations in Li2RhO3 at finite temperatures in order to distinguish the spin-waves contribution from the excitations caused by the Kitaev interactions and to estimate the energy range of the Kitaev term.