Exchange striction induced thermal Hall effect in van der Waals antiferromagnet MnPS$_3$

TL;DR

This study reveals that exchange striction significantly influences the thermal Hall effect in MnPS3, highlighting the importance of spin-lattice coupling in understanding topological thermal transport phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates the crucial role of exchange striction in the thermal Hall effect of MnPS3, integrating it into theoretical models for better accuracy.

Findings

Exchange striction is essential for explaining thermal Hall data.

Thermal conductivity shows distinct temperature and field dependence.

Theoretical models including exchange striction match experimental results.

Abstract

The thermal Hall effect has emerged as an ideal probe for investigating topological phenomena of charge-neutral excitation. Notably, it reveals crucial aspects of spin-lattice couplings that have been difficult to access for decades. However, the exchange striction mechanism from a lattice-induced change in exchange interaction has often been ignored in thermal Hall experiments. MnPS3 can offer a platform to study exchange striction on the thermal Hall effect due to its significant spin-lattice coupling and field-induced non-collinear spin configuration. Our thermal transport data show distinct temperature and field dependence of longitudinal thermal conductivity ($\kappa_{xx}$) and thermal Hall effect ($\kappa_{xy}$). By using detailed theoretical calculation, we found that the inclusion of the exchange striction is essential for a better description of both $\kappa_{xx}$ and $\kappa_{xy}$. Our result demonstrates the importance of the exchange striction mechanism for a complete understanding of the magnon-phonon-driven thermal Hall effect.