Magneto-optical study of metamagnetic transitions in the antiferromagnetic phase of alpha-RuCl3

alpha-RuCl3 is a promising candidate material to realize the so far elusive quantum spin liquid ground state. However, at low temperatures, the coexistence of different exchange interactions couple the effective pseudospins into an antiferromagnetically zigzag (ZZ) ordered state. The low-field evolution of spin structure is still a matter of debate and the magnetic anisotropy within the honeycomb planes is an open and challenging question. Here, we investigate the evolution of the ZZ order parameter by second-order magneto-optical effects, the magnetic linear dichroism and magnetic linear birefringence. Our results clarify the presence and nature of metamagnetic transitions in the ZZ phase of alpha-RuCl3. The experimental observations show the presence of initial magnetic domain repopulation followed by a spin-flop transition for small in-plane applied magnetic fields (approximate to 1.6 T) along specific crystallographic directions. In addition, using a magneto-optical approach, we detected the recently reported emergence of a field-induced intermediate phase before suppressing the ZZ order. The results disclose the details of various angle-dependent in-plane metamagnetic transitions quantifying the bond-anisotropic interactions present in alpha-RuCl3.