Magnetic excitations beyond the single- and double-magnons

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38341-8

Authors: Hebatalla Elnaggar (Utrecht University; CNRS, Sorbonne University) , Abhishek Nag (Diamond Light Source) , Maurits W. Haverkort (Heidelberg University) , Mirian Garcia-Fernandez (Diamond Light Source) , Andrew Walters (Diamond Light Source) , Ru-Pan Wang (Utrecht University; University of Hamburg) , Ke-Jin Zhou (Diamond Light Source) , Frank De Groot (Utrecht University)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Communications , VOL 14

State: Published (Approved)
Published: May 2023

Abstract: A photon carrying one unit of angular momentum can change the spin angular momentum of a magnetic system with one unit (ΔMs = ±1) at most. This implies that a two-photon scattering process can manipulate the spin angular momentum of the magnetic system with a maximum of two units. Herein we describe a triple-magnon excitation in α-Fe2O3, which contradicts this conventional wisdom that only 1- and 2-magnon excitations are possible in a resonant inelastic X-ray scattering experiment. We observe an excitation at exactly three times the magnon energy, along with additional excitations at four and five times the magnon energy, suggesting quadruple and quintuple-magnons as well. Guided by theoretical calculations, we reveal how a two-photon scattering process can create exotic higher-rank magnons and the relevance of these quasiparticles for magnon-based applications.

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I21-Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)

Added On: 19/05/2023 22:28

Documents:
s41467-023-38341-8.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Physics Magnetism Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Scattering Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)