Interacting Dirac magnons in the van der Waals ferromagnet CrBr$_3$

TL;DR

This paper investigates magnon-magnon interactions in the 2D van der Waals ferromagnet CrBr3, revealing temperature-dependent spectral shifts and clarifying the absence of predicted singularities through advanced numerical analysis.

Contribution

It advances understanding of Dirac magnon interactions by going beyond thermal approximations and providing detailed numerical analysis consistent with recent experimental data.

Findings

Absence of predicted spectral singularities in magnon dispersion.

Distinct T^3 temperature dependence for optical magnons.

Comparison shows different thermal behaviors in honeycomb and triangular lattices.

Abstract

We study the effects of magnon-magnon interactions in the two-dimensional van der Waals ferromagnet CrBr$_3$ focusing on its honeycomb lattice structure. Motivated by earlier theoretical predictions of temperature-induced spectral shifts and van Hove singularities in the magnon dispersion~[S. S. Pershoguba \textit{et al}., Dirac Magnons in Honeycomb Ferromagnets, \href{https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.8.011010}{Phys. Rev. X {\textbf{8}}, 011010 (2018)}], we go beyond the commonly used thermal magnon approximation by applying second-order perturbation theory in a fully numerical framework. Our analysis uncovers significant deviations from previous analysis: in particular, the predicted singularities are absent, consistent with recent inelastic neutron scattering measurements~[S. E. Nikitin \textit{et al}., Thermal Evolution of Dirac Magnons in the Honeycomb Ferromagnet CrBr$_3$, \href{https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.127201}{Phys. Rev. Lett. {\textbf{129}}, 127201 (2022)}]. Moreover, we find that the temperature dependence of the renormalized magnon spectrum exhibits a distinct $T^3$ behavior for the optical magnon branch, while retaining $T^2$ behavior for the acoustic or down magnon band. This feature sheds new light on the collective dynamics of Dirac magnons and their interactions. We further compare the honeycomb case with a triangular Bravais lattice, relevant for ferromagnetic monolayer MnBi$_2$Te$_4$, and show that both systems lack singular features while displaying quite distinct thermal trends.