- Editors' Suggestion
- Letter
Magnon-polaron driven thermal Hall effect in a Heisenberg-Kitaev antiferromagnet
Phys. Rev. B 108, L140402 – Published 4 October, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.L140402
Abstract
We investigate the thermal Hall effect in the Heisenberg-Kitaev antiferromagnet , where we observe negative thermal Hall conductivity (THC) with thermal Hall angles up to 2% at low magnetic fields, which changes the sign to positive THC at higher fields. Our theoretical calculations, incorporating spin-lattice coupling, reveal that the quantum-geometric Berry curvature of magnon polarons counteracts the purely magnonic contribution, resulting in a reversed sign and an increased magnitude in THC. This finding emphasizes the significance of spin-lattice coupling in understanding the thermal Hall effect.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
- Lattice thermal conductivity
- Magnetic phase transitions
- Magnetoelastic effect
- Magnetotransport
- Magnons
- Phonons
- Thermal Hall effect
- Antiferromagnets
- Honeycomb lattice
- Magnetic insulators
- Single crystal materials
- Crystal growth
- DC susceptibility measurements
- Holstein-Primakoff method
- Kitaev-Heisenberg model
- Linear spin wave theory
- Liquid helium cooling
- Materials modeling
- Specific heat measurements
- X-ray diffraction