Magnetic excitations beyond the single- and double-magnons

Autor: Hebatalla Elnaggar, Abhishek Nag, Maurits W. Haverkort, Mirian Garcia-Fernandez, Andrew Walters, Ru-Pan Wang, Ke-Jin Zhou, Frank de Groot
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38341-8
Popis: 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.
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