Rethinking <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>−</mml:mtext> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>RuCl</mml:mi> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> : Parameters, models, and phase diagram

$\ensuremath{\alpha}$-RuCl${}_{3}$ promises to harbor an exotic Kitaev spin liquid that could shape the fortunes of the fields of quantum materials and quantum computing. Here, the authors offer a Rosetta Stone for this and other anisotropic-exchange Kitaev materials. The key message is the approach for constraining parameters of their low-energy spin models using experimental observables. This work clears the path to a consistent interpretation of experiments and gives important new insights into the fundamental properties of quantum magnets with spin-orbit coupling.