Search Results
Giant stress response of terahertz magnons in a spin-orbit Mott insulator
2022, Kim, Hun-Ho, Ueda, Kentaro, Nakata, Suguru, Wochner, Peter, Mackenzie, Andrew, Hicks, Clifford, Khaliullin, Giniyat, Liu, Huimei, Keimer, Bernhard, Minola, Matteo
Magnonic devices operating at terahertz frequencies offer intriguing prospects for high-speed electronics with minimal energy dissipation However, guiding and manipulating terahertz magnons via external parameters present formidable challenges. Here we report the results of magnetic Raman scattering experiments on the antiferromagnetic spin-orbit Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 under uniaxial stress. We find that the energies of zone-center magnons are extremely stress sensitive: lattice strain of 0.1% increases the magnon energy by 40%. The magnon response is symmetric with respect to the sign of the applied stress (tensile or compressive), but depends strongly on its direction in the IrO2 planes. A theory based on coupling of the spin-orbit-entangled iridium magnetic moments to lattice distortions provides a quantitative explanation of the Raman data and a comprehensive framework for the description of magnon-lattice interactions in magnets with strong spin-orbit coupling. The possibility to efficiently manipulate the propagation of terahertz magnons via external stress opens up multifold design options for reconfigurable magnonic devices.
Hidden Charge Order in an Iron Oxide Square-Lattice Compound
2021, Kim, Jung-Hwa, Peets, Darren C., Reehuis, Manfred, Adler, Peter, Maljuk, Andrey, Ritschel, Tobias, Allison, Morgan C., Geck, Jochen, Mardegan, Jose R. L., Bereciartua Perez, Pablo J., Francoual, Sonia, Walters, Andrew C., Keller, Thomas, Abdala, Paula M., Pattison, Philip, Dosanjh, Pinder, Keimer, Bernhard
Since the discovery of charge disproportionation in the FeO2 square-lattice compound Sr3Fe2O7 by Mössbauer spectroscopy more than fifty years ago, the spatial ordering pattern of the disproportionated charges has remained “hidden” to conventional diffraction probes, despite numerous x-ray and neutron scattering studies. We have used neutron Larmor diffraction and Fe K-edge resonant x-ray scattering to demonstrate checkerboard charge order in the FeO2 planes that vanishes at a sharp second-order phase transition upon heating above 332 K. Stacking disorder of the checkerboard pattern due to frustrated interlayer interactions broadens the corresponding superstructure reflections and greatly reduces their amplitude, thus explaining the difficulty of detecting them by conventional probes. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on “hidden order” in other materials.