Strong-Magnetic-Field Magnon Transport in Monolayer Graphene

TL;DR

This study investigates magnon transport in monolayer graphene under high magnetic fields, revealing a hidden phase transition between charge density wave and antiferromagnetic states through direct magnon transmission measurements.

Contribution

It provides the first direct experimental evidence of a phase transition at charge neutrality in monolayer graphene using magnon transmission techniques.

Findings

Magnon transmission varies with the low-momentum spin wave properties.

Robust magnon transmission reappears in the antiferromagnetic regime.

Direct detection of the phase transition between charge density wave and canted antiferromagnetic phases.

Abstract

At high magnetic fields, monolayer graphene hosts competing phases distinguished by their breaking of the approximate SU(4) isospin symmetry. Recent experiments have observed an even denominator fractional quantum Hall state thought to be associated with a transition in the underlying isospin order from a spin-singlet charge density wave at low magnetic fields to an antiferromagnet at high magnetic fields, implying that a similar transition must occur at charge neutrality. However, this transition does not generate contrast in typical electrical transport or thermodynamic measurements and no direct evidence for it has been reported, despite theoretical interest arising from its potentially unconventional nature. Here, we measure the transmission of ferromagnetic magnons through the two dimensional bulk of clean monolayer graphene. Using spin polarized fractional quantum Hall states as a benchmark, we find that magnon transmission is controlled by the detailed properties of the low-momentum spin waves in the intervening Hall fluid, which is highly density dependent. Remarkably, as the system is driven into the antiferromagnetic regime, robust magnon transmission is restored across a wide range of filling factors consistent with Pauli blocking of fractional quantum hall spin-wave excitations and their replacement by conventional ferromagnetic magnons confined to the minority graphene sublattice. Finally, using devices in which spin waves are launched directly into the insulating charge-neutral bulk, we directly detect the hidden phase transition between bulk insulating charge density wave and a canted antiferromagnetic phases at charge neutrality, completing the experimental map of broken-symmetry phases in monolayer graphene.