Controlling magnetism by electric field or current is a central topic in spintronics. In this work we argue that the magnon spin photocurrent can also be controlled by the electric field in magnetoelectrics. Taking ${\mathrm{Cr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ as an example, we demonstrate how the spin current is modified by the electric field using nonlinear response theory. We find that the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction induced by the applied field plays a key role in modifying spin-current conductivity, which exhibits pronounced anisotropy with respect to the light polarization. In particular, both the resonance frequency and the peak intensity show distinct dependencies on the external electric field $E$, demonstrating electrical control of the spin photocurrent. In addition, we show that the two-magnon processes give rise to a continuum spectrum, a consequence of the field-induced spin canting. These results show that ${\mathrm{Cr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ is a promising platform for realizing electrically tunable spin photovoltaic effect.

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• Magnetism
• Magnons
• Photocurrent
• Photoinduced effect
• Spin current
• Spin optoelectronics
• Spin waves
• Holstein-Primakoff method