Long-lived spin waves in a metallic antiferromagnet

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • G. Poelchen - , Chair of Surface Physics, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (Author)
  • J. Hellwig - , Goethe University Frankfurt a.M. (Author)
  • M. Peters - , Goethe University Frankfurt a.M. (Author)
  • Dmitry Yu. Usachov - , Donostia International Physics Center (Author)
  • K. Kliemt - , Goethe University Frankfurt a.M. (Author)
  • C. Laubschat - , Professor (rtd.) for Surface Physics (Author)
  • P. M. Echenique - , Donostia International Physics Center, Ikerbasque Basque Foundation for Science (Author)
  • E. V. Chulkov - , Donostia International Physics Center, Materials Physics Center CFM/MPC (CSIC-UPV/EHU), University of the Basque Country (Author)
  • C. Krellner - , Goethe University Frankfurt a.M. (Author)
  • S. S.P. Parkin - , Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Author)
  • D. V. Vyalikh - , Donostia International Physics Center, Ikerbasque Basque Foundation for Science (Author)
  • A. Ernst - , Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz (Author)
  • Kurt Kummer - , European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Author)

Abstract

Collective spin excitations in magnetically ordered crystals, called magnons or spin waves, can serve as carriers in novel spintronic devices with ultralow energy consumption. The generation of well-detectable spin flows requires long lifetimes of high-frequency magnons. In general, the lifetime of spin waves in a metal is substantially reduced due to a strong coupling of magnons to the Stoner continuum. This makes metals unattractive for use as components for magnonic devices. Here, we present the metallic antiferromagnet CeCo2P2, which exhibits long-living magnons even in the terahertz (THz) regime. For CeCo2P2, our first-principle calculations predict a suppression of low-energy spin-flip Stoner excitations, which is verified by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering measurements. By comparison to the isostructural compound LaCo2P2, we show how small structural changes can dramatically alter the electronic structure around the Fermi level leading to the classical picture of the strongly damped magnons intrinsic to metallic systems. Our results not only demonstrate that long-lived magnons in the THz regime can exist in bulk metallic systems, but they also open a path for an efficient search for metallic magnetic systems in which undamped THz magnons can be excited.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number5422
JournalNature communications
Volume14
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 37669952