Magnetic anisotropy of the alkali iridate Na2IrO3 at high magnetic fields: Evidence for strong ferromagnetic Kitaev correlations

The magnetic-field response of the Mott-insulating honeycomb iridate Na2IrO3 is investigated using torque magnetometry measurements in magnetic fields up to 60 T. A peak-dip structure is observed in the torque response at magnetic fields corresponding to an energy scale close to the zigzag ordering (≈15K) temperature. Using exact diagonalization calculations, we show that such a distinctive signature in the torque response constrains the effective spin models for these classes of Kitaev materials to ones with dominant ferromagnetic Kitaev interactions, while alternative models with dominant antiferromagnetic Kitaev interactions are excluded. We further show that, at high magnetic fields, long range spin correlation functions decay rapidly, pointing to a transition to a long-sought-after field-induced quantum spin liquid beyond the peak-dip structure, suggesting this to be a common feature of the family of Kitaev systems. Kitaev systems are thus revealed to be excellent candidates for field-induced quantum spin liquids, similar physics having been suggested in another Kitaev system α-RuCl3.