Spin Nernst Effect of Magnons in Collinear Antiferromagnets

In a collinear antiferromagnet with easy-axis anisotropy, symmetry guarantees that the spin wave modes are doubly degenerate. The two modes carry opposite spin angular momentum and exhibit opposite chirality. Using a honeycomb antiferromagnet in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 117; no. 21; p. 217202
Main Authors Cheng, Ran, Okamoto, Satoshi, Xiao, Di
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 15.11.2016
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:In a collinear antiferromagnet with easy-axis anisotropy, symmetry guarantees that the spin wave modes are doubly degenerate. The two modes carry opposite spin angular momentum and exhibit opposite chirality. Using a honeycomb antiferromagnet in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, we show that a longitudinal temperature gradient can drive the two modes to opposite transverse directions, realizing a spin Nernst effect of magnons with vanishing thermal Hall current. We find that magnons around the Γ point and the K point contribute oppositely to the transverse spin transport, and their competition leads to a sign change of the spin Nernst coefficient at finite temperature. Possible material candidates are discussed.
ISSN:1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.117.217202