Diagonal and off-diagonal thermal conduction with resonant phonon scattering in $Ni_3TeO_6$

TL;DR

This paper investigates how magnon-phonon interactions influence thermal conductivity and Hall effects in Ni3TeO6, revealing significant coupling effects that impact heat transport in magnetic materials.

Contribution

It demonstrates the application of the Debye-Callaway model to explain magnetic field dependence of thermal conductivity in Ni3TeO6, highlighting magnon-phonon coupling effects.

Findings

Magnon-phonon coupling significantly affects thermal conductivity.

Debye-Callaway model explains magnetic field dependence of heat conduction.

Finite thermal Hall effect linked to magnon-phonon interactions.

Abstract

The coupling between phonon and magnon is ubiquitous in magnetic materials and plays a crucial role in many aspects of magnetic properties, most notably in spintronics. Yet, this academically and technologically interesting problem still poses a severe challenge to a general understanding of the issue in certain materials. We report that Ni3TeO6 exhibits clear evidence of significant magnon-phonon coupling in both longitudinal thermal conductivity ($\kappa_{xx}$) and thermal Hall coefficient ($\kappa_{xy}$). The Debye-Callaway model, a phenomenological description for phonon heat conduction, can explain the measured magnetic field dependence of $\kappa_{xx}(H)$: phonon scattering from spin fluctuation in the paramagnetic phase and additional scattering due to magnon-phonon coupling in the collinear antiferromagnetic phase. We further suggest that a similar approach could be applied to understand the finite $\kappa_{xy}$ values in $Ni_3TeO_6$.