Electric-dipole active two-magnon excitation in {\textit{ab}} spiral spin phase of a ferroelectric magnet Gd$_{\textbf{0.7}}$Tb$_{\textbf{0.3}}$MnO$_{\textbf 3}$

TL;DR

This study reveals an electric-dipole active two-magnon excitation in the ferroelectric ab spiral spin phase of Gd0.7Tb0.3MnO3, observed via terahertz spectroscopy, with specific polarization dependence and temperature behavior.

Contribution

First identification of electric-dipole active two-magnon excitation in a ferroelectric spiral magnet using THz spectroscopy with polarization analysis.

Findings

Observation of a broad spin excitation continuum around 2.4 meV

The excitation is active only for electric field along the a-axis

The excitation intensity increases with decreasing temperature and vanishes in the A-type antiferromagnetic phase

Abstract

A broad continuum-like spin excitation (1--10 meV) with a peak structure around 2.4 meV has been observed in the ferroelectric $ab$ spiral spin phase of Gd$_{0.7}$Tb$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ by using terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy. Based on a complete set of light-polarization measurements, we identify the spin excitation active for the light $E$ vector only along the a-axis, which grows in intensity with lowering temperature even from above the magnetic ordering temperature but disappears upon the transition to the $A$-type antiferromagnetic phase. Such an electric-dipole active spin excitation as observed at THz frequencies can be ascribed to the two-magnon excitation in terms of the unique polarization selection rule in a variety of the magnetically ordered phases.