Spin waves and orbital contribution to ferromagnetism in a topological metal

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a nearly flat spin wave band and large orbital moments in Fe3Sn2, a topological metal with kagome bilayer structure, revealing complex magnetic excitations and interactions influenced by topology and lattice arrangement.

Contribution

It uncovers the topological and magnetic properties of Fe3Sn2, highlighting the role of spin waves and orbital moments in a kagome-based topological metal, with implications for quantum states and boson-fermion interactions.

Findings

Discovery of a nearly flat spin wave band in Fe3Sn2.

Observation of large orbital moments in the material.

Identification of topologically non-trivial electronic structure.

Abstract

Special arrangements of atoms with more than one atom per unit cell, including honeycomb or kagome (woven bamboo mat) lattices, can host propagating excitations with non-trivial topology as defined by their evolution along closed paths in momentum space. Excitations on such lattices can also be momentum-independent, meaning that they are localized notwithstanding strong hopping of the underlying disturbances between neighbouring sites. The associated flat bands are interesting because the interactions between the heavy quasiparticles inhabiting them will become much more important than for strong dispersion, resulting in novel quantum solid and liquid states. Different stackings of two-dimensional lattices, for example twisted graphene bilayers, provide routes to further engineer topology and many-body effects. Here, we report the discovery, using circularly polarized x-rays for the unambiguous isolation of magnetic signals, of a nearly flat spin wave band and large (compared to elemental iron) orbital moment for the metallic ferromagnet Fe3Sn2, built from compact AB-stacked kagome bilayers and which has a topologically non-trivial electronic band structure controllable by modest external magnetic fields. As a function of out-of-plane momentum, the nearly flat optical mode and the global rotation symmetry-restoring acoustic mode are out of phase, consistent with a bilayer exchange coupling that is larger than the already large in-plane couplings. The defining units of this topological metal are therefore a triangular lattice of octahedral iron clusters rather than weakly coupled kagome planes. The spin waves are strongly damped when compared to elemental iron, opening the topic of interactions of topological bosons (spin waves) and fermions (electrons) with the very specific target of explaining boson lifetimes.