Quantum spin liquids are a form of quantum matter wherein a set of magnetic moments fails to order at low temperatures, and can yield intriguing topological systems hosting emergent Majorana fermions and more. Few materials seem capable of supporting a QSL, and most of them do eventually show magnetic ordering, but these are early days still. We are investigating a-RuCl3, a layered antiferromagnetic material that is a prime candidate to realize the so-called Kitaev QSL, and will present the results of ongoing investigations. These include the discovery of a sizable charge transfer between a-RuCl3 and materials it comes in contact with, that can be used to create novel "van der Waals heterostructure" devices. We will also present some new research directions utilizing either defects in diamond or mesoscale thermal transport to probe a-RuCl3.

Research group: https://web.physics.wustl.edu/henriksen/

Short Bio: Prof. Henriksen is a Physics Associate Professor at Washington University in St Louis. He grew up locally in the Corvallis area. He went on to complete his undergraduate work at Swarthmore College, and his Ph.D. at Columbia University. He was an IQIM Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech before beginning his independent research career and the Henriksen Lab.